President Viktor Yanukovych yesterday signed off on legislation allowing the formation of parliamentary coalitions with individual MPs alongside house factions. Soon after, opposition MPs requested Ukraine’s Constitutional Court rule on the legitimacy of the new regulations.

Danylo Spolsky: With the legislative hurdle cleared, all signs point to the imminent establishment of a 230+ union in parliament of the Party of Regions, Communists, Lytvyn Bloc and 10+ individual lawmakers. In turn, this would allow the coalition to submit prime ministerial candidates to the president and form a new Cabinet of Ministers. Consequently, with the cohabitation of president and parliament in place, the government and coalition will move to reactivate effective policymaking. We note, however, that the Constitutional Court set a precedent last year by ruling against similar coalition moves, and we see a strong chance the Court will strike down the regulatory amendments, which would likely invalidate the soon-to-be-formed coalition and force early elections by YE10.