President Victor Yushchenko has urged Ukraine’s three biggest political forces – the Party of Regions, BYuT and Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense – to make compromises to implement national priorities and work to achieve stability in the country, according to the President`s press-office.

Yushchenko said in Berlin on Wednesday it was important to build constructive relations between those representing Ukraine’s government and opposition. “It is incumbent on the political forces to hold talks, start a dialogue and form respect for one another regardless of who will be in government and who in opposition,” he said.

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He said last Sunday’s vote showed that these three forces had the support of almost 80% of Ukrainian voters, calling their votes a “mandate of trust” given to the parties to build peace and stability in Ukraine. He said they must not hold talks on how to share posts. “This is a blind alley,” he said.

Yushchenko said Ukraine’s fate and future should become the “epicenter” of their understanding. “These colleagues should be united – and I want to stress this – not by the prime minister’s and speaker’s chair or the post of chairman of some parliamentary committee but by one national challenge – how to discover a formula of political stability in parliament and form a government on the basis of this stability,” he said, urging the three forces to avoid conflicts and confrontation.

The president said the democratic forces could form a parliamentary majority but insisted that they must give opposition parties some parliamentary and even governmental posts to create checks and balances.

“I am giving no recipe today about what tools should be used to reach an understanding. No doubt, Ukraine will have its government and opposition. But I want us to learn a lesson from the past,” he said, describing the September 30 vote as a “unique chance to stabilize the country” and a “political maturity test.” “The three political forces must take a step towards one another, formulate priorities, balance the relationship between those in government and those in opposition and put a full stop in this scandal.”