Ukraine's Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was elected as speaker of the new parliament on Tuesday.
"227 lawmakers voted for Yatseniuk," head of the parliament's Counting Commission Mikola Shershun announced.
To elect a speaker at least 226 votes is needed in the 450-seatparliament. Deputies of the Regions Party, the Communist Party and the Lytvin Bloc did not support his candidacy.
Yatsenyuk, a member of the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc, said after the voting that he will be a speaker of the whole chamber.
"I will listen to every deputy," he added.
He said the next task of parliament is to form a new democratic government.
Yatsenyuk's candidacy was put forth by the factions of Yulia Tymoshenko's Bloc and the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc. The two parties formed a majority coalition in parliament on Nov. 29.
The majority coalition also decided on Tuesday to nominate Yulia Tymoshenko for the post of prime minister and submit her nomination to President Victor Yushchenko, who then has 15 days to consider it and send it to parliament for approval.
In September's parliamentary election, the Regions Party garnered 175 seats out of a total 450, Tymoshenko's Bloc collected156, Our Ukraine 72, the Communists 27 and the Lytvin Bloc 20.
Source: Xinhua
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