Ukraine leader: Parliament should quit

President Viktor Yushchenko urged parliament Wednesday to stop meeting and officially dissolve itself so that early elections can be held in September.

Yushchenko and his main political rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, agreed on the date of the vote last month in a bid to defuse a political crisis that had threatened to escalate into clashes between troops loyal to both leaders.

More than 150 lawmakers who support Yushchenko have since resigned, according to their parties, which means the 450-seat Verkhovna Rada can no longer legally operate. But parliament speaker Oleksandr Moroz has refused to formally dissolve it, citing technical reasons, and legislators loyal to Yanukovych have been attending parliament sessions, keeping Ukraine in political limbo.

Technically, the Rada only has to be dissolved 60 days ahead of the vote, but Yushchenko is eager to put an end to the crisis. On Wednesday, he accused Moroz of seeking to break the agreement and prevent the vote.

"The parliament is illegitimate," Yushchenko told reporters. "The elections are inevitable."

Moroz did not respond to Yushchenko's call. Yanukovych issued a statement urging the president to allow the Rada to work on Friday to vote on a series of economic bills.

The confrontation between the president and prime minister escalated in April when Yushchenko ordered parliament dissolved, accusing Yanukovych's majority coalition of trying to usurp power.

Yanukovych later agreed to the early vote, but only agreed on the date after Yushchenko raised the stakes by sending several thousand troops to the capital in defiance of the Cabinet.

Ukrainian politics have been marked by a power struggle between Yushchenko, who has pledged to bring the former Soviet nation of 47 million closer to the West, and Yanukovych, who is seen as more friendly to Ukraine's giant neighbor, Russia.

The two were bitter rivals in the 2004 presidential election. Yanukovych was initially declared the winner, but Yushchenko won a court-ordered new election after weeks of mass protests alleging electoral fraud. Yanukovych staged a remarkable political comeback last year when his party received the most votes in parliamentary elections and formed the ruling coalition.