Yulia Tymoshenko, the head of the election bloc bearing her name, has urged President Yushchenko to nominate her for the post of prime minister if the pro-presidential Our Ukraine-People`s Self-Defense (NUNS) bloc and her force win the September 30 polls, Reuters reported on September 23.

According to the BYuT press-office, in an interview with the agency, Tymoshenko said Yushchenko should unambiguously rule out any post-election coalition with the Party of Regions led by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. "Now is the time to tell people who are going to vote just what sort of coalition they can expect by voting for this or that political party," Tymoshenko said.

Tymoshenko said that her team has learned the lessons of her eight months as prime minister in 2005, which ended with Yushchenko`s dismissing her following rows between ministers and high-ranking officials of the presidential administration. "I told the president that my team and I would take no steps to damage the unity of the democratic forces," she added.

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Meanwhile, Yuriy Lutsenko, one of the NUNS leaders, said on the Inter television channel on September 23 that if the NUNS bloc and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc win the elections, they will promptly recreate their Orange Revolution alliance and form a government on a "50-50" division of power.