The Communist Party said today that the appointment of the head of the presidential secretariat, Viktor Baloha, as head of the campaign headquarters of the pro-presidential Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defence bloc shows that the early parliamentary election will not be fair and transparent.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe opened its 16th session today at the Ukrainian parliamentary building in Kyiv. "Out of 56 OSCE member states, 52 will be taking part in the current session," Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Veselovskiy told journalists today.

The new bloc of democratic forces created today will be called Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defence. Its election list will be topped by Yuriy Lutsenko, a former interior minister and leader of the People's Self-Defence movement, the presidential press service said today.

Ten parties signed a declaration today on forming a union of democratic forces, which is, in fact, a form of election bloc, the press service of the pro-presidential Our Ukraine party has said. It said that the declaration was signed at Our Ukraine’s office in the presence of President Viktor Yushchenko.

The opposition People's Self-Defence bloc has won the sympathies of those who have been disappointed with either the pro-presidential Our Ukraine or the Socialist Party, People's Self-Defence leader Yuriy Lutsenko has said in an interview with a business daily dated July 5. He said those parties that wish to see his party and Our Ukraine in a bloc for the coming parliamentary election in September have to agree to merge into one party after the election.

An MP of the Parliament of the 5th convocation, Oleksandr Tretyakov, has said that Our Ukraine agreed that the Rukh-Ukrainian Right, a bloc of centre-right parties, can join the united bloc formed between Our Ukraine and the People's Self-Defence bloc and to retain its name. At the same time, Our Ukraine will insist that the Ukrainian Right observe the agreement to act in the interests of the united political force.

The Cabinet of Ministers has, by its resolution No 495 of July 2 2007, recalled from the Constitutional Court its appeal on whether the procedure for the appointment of the prime minister, foreign minister and defence minister corresponds to the Constitution. The text of the resolution signed by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is published on the government Internet portal.

The Rukh-Ukrainian Right bloc of centre-right parties has said that it never pulled out of negotiations on the creation of a mega bloc of pro-presidential forces, bloc leaders Borys Tarasyuk and Yuriy Kostenko told a private Ukrainian TV channel on July 3. They admitted that the signing of an agreement on June 30 on the creation of a joint electoral bloc and a single party in the future between Our Ukraine and the People's Self-Defence came as a surprise to them.