KIEV, Dec 18: Ukraine’s pro-western coalition on Tuesday appointed Orange Revolution leader Yulia Tymoshenko prime minister and named a government that favours the ex-Soviet republic winning Nato and EU membership.

Deputies in the single-chamber Rada voted 226-0 — the absolute minimum for a vote to pass — in favour of Tymoshenko, proposed by pro-western President Viktor Yushchenko. The opposition, who control just under half of the 450 seats, boycotted the vote.

The ruling coalition then voted in a new government, including Volodymyr Ogryzko, a strong proponent of Ukraine entering Nato and the European Union, as foreign minister.

Tymoshenko supporters cheered following her victory. However, opposition deputies, who oppose the Nato bid and back closer ties with Russia, boycotted the vote, reflecting the bitter divisions in this country of 46 million people.

Ukraine, which is sandwiched between Poland and Russia, is a key transit route for Russian natural gas to the European Union and has had strained relations with President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin since Tymoshenko and Yushchenko led the 2004 Orange Revolution.

Tymoshenko has called for a shake-up in the way Ukraine buys gas from Russia.

However, in Moscow’s first reaction to her appointment, Putin’s European affairs advisor Sergei Yastrzhembsky offered congratulations and promised that Russia would be a “stable, predictable” partner.

Tymoshenko’s victory in parliament came a week after a first vote failed to pass by just a single deputy.

On this occasion deputies voted one by one in a show of hands to avoid a repeat of the previous week when Tymoshenko’s coalition claimed that tampering with the electronic system had been responsible for her defeat.

The victory of Tymoshenko, who is the country’s most colourful leader and is rumoured to be eyeing the presidency, will now test her tempestuous relationship with Yushchenko.

Famous for her white clothes, traditional braided hair-do and passionate speaking style, Tymoshenko is adored by supporters in western Ukraine, but vilified by her enemies, many of whom live in the more pro-Russian east of the country.

She and Yushchenko rose to fame when they led the 2004 Orange Revolution protests that forced a re-run of a rigged presidential election victory by Moscow-backed rival Viktor Yanukovych, who now heads the opposition.

Yushchenko won the re-run and appointed Tymoshenko premier, but their alliance fell apart shortly after and she was sacked in September 2005.

The break-up of the Orange alliance forced Yushchenko to allow in Yanukovych as his premier, prompting political gridlock and leading to snap parliamentary elections this September.—AFP