Ukraine's parliament on Tuesday rejected Yulia Tymoshenko as prime minister.
Tymoshenko obtained 225 votes in each of two rounds of voting in the 450-seat legislature, just one vote less than needed to become prime minister.
Yulia Tymoshenko (C), leader of Tymoshenko's Bloc, leaves after the parliamentary vote in Kiev, capital of Ukraine, Dec. 11, 2007. Ukraine's parliament rejected Yulia Tymoshenko's appointment as prime minister on Tuesday.
Tymoshenko's allies complained of technical problems or accused outgoing Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych's Regions Party of rigging the voting.
"It's not the lawmakers that malfunctioned, it's the machine. It was programmed for 225 votes," said Volodymyr Silenko, a parliament member from Tymoshenko's bloc.
Tymoshenko said at a press conference after the voting that President Viktor Yushchenko has expressed his readiness to again nominate her prime minister.
"A new round of voting will be held after a meeting between President Viktor Yushchenko and the leaders of parliamentary factions," she said.
"The coalition is united as never before, it has a strictly set number of votes, and we will undoubtedly form the government and bring results to the country. Such falsifications that happened today are possible only for a certain and a very short time," she added.
Viacheslav Kyrylenko, a leader of the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense party, in turn, expressed confidence that lawmakers would approve Tymoshenko as prime minister soon.
"I am confident that the president will rename Tymoshenko as prime minister and her candidacy will soon be confirmed," he said.
Tymoshenko, 47, was named prime minister by Yushchenko last Thursday, and she is one of the most popular political figures in Ukraine.
Tymoshenko, with her trademark peasant braid and designer outfits, stood firmly at Yushchenko's side during the "Orange" revolution at the end of 2004.
She became prime minister in February 2005 after Yushchenko won a re-run presidential election, but was fired by the president seven months later.
The two reconciled this year during a standoff with Yanukovych, who has pursued more Moscow-friendly policies.
A snap parliamentary election was held in September to resolve months of political crisis in the country.
In September's polls, Tymoshenko's bloc garnered 156 seats in the 450-member legislature and formed a shaky majority coalition with the pro-president Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense party.
(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2007)
