Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Friday that he was ready to conditionally suspend his decree to dissolve parliament and hold early parliamentary elections.

After a four-hour meeting with his rival Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, Yushchenko told reporters that he would halt the implementation of the decree if the two sides could reach a compromise package to end the ongoing political crisis.

Yushchenko said the parliament, controlled by the governing coalition led by Yanukovych, must approve 10 to 12 bills, including legislation on elections, the opposition, the operation of parliament and the national unity declaration he has advocated.

The president also called for a referendum on an amendment to the constitution, and reiterated that there was no social confrontation in Ukraine and the differences between various political forces could be bridged.

The Ukrainian constitutional court started Tuesday to examine the legality of the presidential decree to terminate the present legislature. More than 14,000 supporters of Yanukovych and Yushchenko staged rival rallies near the court Friday. With the intervention of police, no conflicts took place between the two camps.

Yushchenko signed on April 2 a decree to dismiss parliament and call early elections. The governing coalition, which holds a majority of seats in parliament, has strongly opposed the decree and requested the constitutional court to rule on its legality.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2007)