SERVICES

E-MAIL SERVICES
CNN MOBILE
CNN AVANT GO
DESKTOP TICKER
ABOUT US
AD INFO

CNN TV

what's on
biz international
inside sailing
the music room
show transcripts
how to get CNN TV
anchors/reporters
bureaux
CNN Partner Hotels

EDITIONS

CNN.com U.S.
CNN.com Asia
CNNArabic.com
CNNEspañol.com
set your edition

Ousted Ukrainian PM vows to return


Yushchenko supporters protest outside the parlaiment building in Kiev

KIEV, Ukraine -- Dismissed Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko has vowed to continue in politics despite a vote of no-confidence in his government.

The vote on Thursday by the communist-dominated parliament plunges the nation into political chaos.

As the decision was announced, 15,000 Yushchenko supporters demonstrated outside parliament.

"Democracy in Ukraine has suffered a serious defeat," Yushchenko said. "I am going away in order to return."

AUDIO

CNN's Jill Dougherty: Yushchenko says he will not leave politics

500kb/46secs.
AIFF or WAV sound

The 450-seat parliament voted 263 to 69 to dismiss Yushchenko, a former central banker appointed in December 1999.

The crowd cheered as he emerged from parliament, flanked by his colleagues and wiping tears from his eyes.

"I said this government would be for the people and for all the citizens of Ukraine. Thank you to all those who supported me and my government for the past one and a half years," he said.

It was unclear whether the rest of the cabinet would quit or who would replace Yushchenko but some deputies said the divisions in parliament meant only a complete unknown could be nominated to replace him.

Yushchenko had come under fire for austerity measures and attempts to reform sections of Ukraine's economy.

Yushchenko and President Leonid Kuchma had attempted to defuse the crisis by holding urgent consultations with parliamentary leaders.

The vote could now have wider implications for Ukraine. Reforms pursued by Yushchenko, a former central banker, are regarded as crucial to keeping Western investors and the International Monetary Fund active in the country.

Street protests

The fall of the government follows on from a month-long political crisis sparked by the disappearance of a critical journalist and allegations of Kuchma's involvement in his killing.

Opposition movements accuse the president and his top aides of involvement in Heorhiy Gongadze's disappearance and have seized on the case to support their demand for the Kuchma's removal.


Police block protesters outside parliament

With continuing street protests demanding he step down, Kuchma had previously offered only lukewarm support to Yushchenko, but has now volunteered to mediate between the government and the parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.

Yushchenko is credited with reviving the country's chronically sluggish economic reforms and achieving the first signs of economic progress since Ukraine's independence in 1991.

But the prime minister's opponents, led by Petro Symonenko accuse Yushchenko and his allies of being "puppets of the West" and of the International Monetary Fund.

Ukraine itself was facing a vote on Thursday with the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe due to rule on a demand by its influential Monitoring Committee to expel Kiev from the body for human rights violations.

There were growing signs on Wednesday, however, that the Strasbourg-based human rights watchdog would give Ukraine more time to clean up its rights record.