Ukraine's outgoing President Leonid Kuchma proposed a plan Thursday for resolving his country's voting crisis that would see a quick new presidential election and hand interim power over to the parliament.
"My opinion, and I am ready to examine this if we find the proper legal field, is that we should do this in a shorter timeframe than the presidential election laws stipulate," he said in a televised address.
"We should not be dragging this out," Kuchma said.
Kuchma's emergency measures came after he rushed to Moscow for urgent consultations with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in which he won the latter's support.
Ukraine has been bogged down in a voting crisis since Nov. 21 when the presidential run-off handed victory to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich and sparked opposition accusations of vote rigging.
Though being declared winner of the disputed election, Yanukovich can not be inaugurated until the Supreme Court rules on the opposition demand that the election result be invalidated.
Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has refused to concede defeat in the vote and is demanding a quick re-vote.
Kuchma said he would strip himself of power and hand it to parliament should both sides follow his rescue plan. "Ukraine needs a government that will act," Kuchma said.
Observers in Kiev said Kuchma took the middle ground by calling for brand new -- but quick -- elections.
They said the main obstacle now hinges on the timing and format of a new vote. Kuchma's plan would see a brand new election open to all candidates. But Yushchenko is firmly against a brand new vote and is demanding that he quickly face off against Yanukovich again.
The European Union on Thursday backed Yushchenko's demands while US President George W. Bush said in Washington that he supported the idea of "any election."
But Kuchma gained backing from Russian President Putin who criticized the idea of a repeat vote in Ukraine.
"And then what? A third, fourth, twenty-fifth time? This could continue as long as one of the sides doesn't obtain the result it needs," Putin said while meeting with Kuchma on Thursday.
"We are ready to take part in the settlement, and Russia will always be together with Ukraine," Putin told Kuchma.
Putin called on all parties concerned to abide by the constitution and laws, warning that Ukraine would break down if the constitution was breached.
Putin considered as useless the Ukrainian opposition's idea to have a re-vote of the disputed second round of presidential election to solve the political standoff.
"It will avail nothing. A re-vote can be held for the umpteenth time, until one of the parties obtains the results it covets," said the Russian president.
Meanwhile, the voting crisis is threatening the country's economy and Kuchma has warned that the economy could collapse within days "like a house of cards."
"Another few days and the financial system could fall down like a house of cards," Kuchma said on Monday in a meeting with Prime Minister Yanukovich.
"Neither the president nor the government can take responsibility for this" because the state is not working properly while regions split their allegiances between pro-Russia Yanukovich or pro-Western opposition leader Yushchenko, Kuchma said.
"It is clear today that unremitted taxes are running into the billions (of hryvnas, US$200 million, 150 million euros). Customs duties have fallen by a quarter," said Kuchma.
On Sunday, officials from more than half of Ukraine's 27 regions, representing two-thirds of the population of 48 million, held a meeting at which they announced plans to hold referendums on Dec. 12 on autonomy from the central government.