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KIEV, Ukraine - Supporters of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko lost a round to their foes in Parliament Saturday, when progovernment lawmakers helped block legal changes intended to prevent fraud in the Dec. 26 repeat of the country's presidential runoff vote.
Buoyed by a momentous Supreme Court ruling a day earlier that ordered the new vote, Yushchenko's supporters vowed to force Parliament to adopt the legislation by continuing their marathon protest in Kiev's central square.
Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma tried to bring European pressure on the opposition, which he accused of reneging on its promises. Kuchma called for a new round of European-mediated talks with the opposition on Monday.
The jockeying for position came as the opposition celebrated its court victory, confident Yushchenko can beat Prime Minster Viktor Yanukovych if a fair runoff is held. Yanukovych, Kuchma's ally, confirmed he would compete in the new vote, and the Central Election Commission formally set a Dec. 26 date for the balloting, as ordered by the court.
Yushchenko had been hoping for quick approval of a raft of bills that would amend election laws and reshuffle the election commission, which the opposition accused of covering up fraud in the initial runoff, held Nov. 21. The opposition says the changes are needed to ensure the new vote is fair.
But the package was blocked when a compromise agreement fell apart, and the Parliament adjourned for 10 days without passing the legislation.
Communists, socialists and progovernment factions in Parliament had promised to back the legislation in exchange for the opposition's support of a constitutional reform bill that would transfer some of the president's powers to Parliament.
Late Saturday, Yushchenko told thousands of supporters gathered in Kiev's main Independence Square that his government foes were trying to trim presidential powers, fearing his victory. He urged the global community to help monitor the new vote.
"They realized that they aren't going to win, so they decided to make constitutional changes to revise presidential powers," Yushchenko said.
Yushchenko's supporters objected to the proposed changes, insisting instead that the Parliament vote on electoral amendments now and consider the constitutional reforms after the presidential rerun.
"Combining electoral changes and constitutional reform is legally illiterate," said lawmaker Yulia Tymoshenko, a fiery Yushchenko ally. "We must first create legal conditions for holding elections. No one in the world passes constitutional changes in a rush."
Socialist leader Oleksandr Moroz accused Yushchenko of reneging on his promise.
Kuchma, who has strongly pushed for the constitutional reform, also accused the opposition of breaking its promises.
"The opposition isn't fulfilling practically any of the agreements reached at a round table that involved European politicians," Kuchma said in a phone conversation with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. "That exacerbates the situation in the country."
Wednesday's compromise agreement, which was sponsored by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and other mediators, called for Parliament to vote for the electoral and constitutional changes all at once.