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Kiev: Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko decreed a December 7 date for early elections Thursday after dissolving parliament.
Yushchenko dissolved parliament on Wednesday and called for new elections after the pro-Western coalition with his estranged Orange Revolution partner Yulia Tymoshenko collapsed and efforts to forge a news alliance ended in acrimony.
The parliamentary vote will be the third in as many years, adding to debilitating political turmoil in a country battered by the global financial crisis.
The decision comes amid a fierce battle between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko, his ally in the 2004 street protests that helped the former Soviet republic loosen the grip of Russian influence in the country of 46 million people.
Both are seen as likely rivals in the 2010 presidential vote.
Tymoshenko has said dissolving parliament before late November is unconstitutional and has vowed to challenge the decision. Her party has threatened protests.
Tymoshenko has also suggested holding a new presidential election alongside any early parliamentary vote, hinting that she would run.
Yushchenko pulled out of the nine-month-old coalition with Tymoshenko last month, after she sided with the opposition to adopt a series of laws that trim his powers. Yushchenko has also accused Tymoshenko of selling out to Russia.
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