Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko plans to nominate Yuri Yekhanurov as Prime Minister candidate, State Secretary Oleh Rybachuk said Friday.

Rybachuk told a press conference that the president will propose the candidacy to the parliament. Under Ukraine's laws, the nomination still needs the approval by a majority of the 450-seat parliament.

The 58-year-old Yekhanurov now serves as governor of the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region. He was also a former economics minister and headed a parliamentary committee on industrial issues.

The Ukrainian president fired the government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Thursday, saying cabinet members and other top aides had lost their "team spirit."

Also on Thursday, Yushchenko accepted the resignation of Vice Prime Minister Mykola Tomenko, and Petro Poroshenko, head of the Security and Defense Council.

Yushchenko has said that conflicts between Poroshenko and Tymoshenko have "became the everyday agenda."

Source: Xinhua