Ukraine's parliament opens, vote on PM looms

KIEV, Aug 4 (Reuters) Ukraine's parliament began a session today where deputies were expected to vote in Viktor Yanukovich as prime minister and agree on the line-up of his coalition cabinet.

Yanukovich, the man defeated by President Viktor Yushchenko in the ''Orange Revolution'' two years ago, is expected easily to gather the required majority in the 450-seat parliament.

''I think today we will vote to appoint the prime minister and will also appoint the cabinet line-up,'' said Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest man and a Yanukovich ally.

Deputies will also decide whether to give the go-ahead for military training exercises with NATO and try to appoint new judges for the Constitutional Court.

Yushchenko was expected to arrive in parliament to oversee the vote for Yanukovich. He reluctantly proposed his rival to head the government after running out of constitutional options.

Sources in parliament said approving Yanukovich was the second item on the agenda, after a vote to elect judges to the Constitutional Court.

A spokesman for Yanukovich said the vote on his candidacy would be at about 12 noon.

Yanukovich was nominated by Yushchenko after he agreed to sign a political declaration safeguarding the president's Western-leaning policies.

Yanukovich, 56, is backed by his Regions Party and the Socialists and Communists who between them have around 240 votes. Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party with 86 seats has also joined them in a ''grand coalition''.

Dozens of parliamentarians from the Our Ukraine faction have said they would not support Yanukovich, their opponents during mass street protests against electoral fraud in 2004. Others defended the new coalition as an attempt to heal divisions.

The Constitutional Court was inactive for nearly a year and resumption of its work was a key condition set out by the president for the new ruling coalition.

Parliament will also consider a law on allowing military training exercises with NATO. Ukraine is not a member but has said it wants to join the alliance.

The exercises have been held regularly in Ukraine since 1997 but this year plans for war games triggered small but noisy protests in Ukraine's Russian-speaking Crimea. The government suspended the exercises.

Parliament will break for its summer vacation once it finishes its agenda for today. If it does not have time it has the option of sitting tomorrow.

REUTERS KR BST1421