Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko reassured her supporters Tuesday that she will win the parliamentary election next spring and return as head of government.

"Honestly speaking, I have no doubts that we will win the parliamentary election. And definitely I will then head the government," Tymoshenko, who was sacked by President Viktor Yushchenko Thursday but has seen her popularity rising to rival his, said in an interview with the Kommersant daily.

The constitutional changes made during last year's hotly disputed presidential election gave the winner of parliamentary elections expanded powers, including the right to pick a prime minister and most cabinet members.

"I will definitely follow the path of a logical aim to have a government that does not steal, officials who do not steal, and a country free of the yoke" of corruption, said Tymoshenko.

Yushchenko sacked the government after three days of talks with Tymoshenko over accusations of high-level corruption produced no compromise.

Tymoshenko said she had asked Yushchenko to fire his entourage and keep her government in place.
"I asked him to choose between his entourage, which was accused of corruption, and me in favor of the government, in favor of an honest country, but the president made a choice in favor of his team," Tymoshenko said.

Tymoshenko, who was the comrade-in-arms of Yushchenko in last year's Orange Revolution, said she is quitting Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party but will not shift into the opposition.

"We shall run independently ... We shall run as an independent and self-supporting force," Tymoshenko said.

The former prime minister said she is confident of winning the election but in the event that her Motherland Party lacks several votes, the party will have to form a coalition with someone else.

(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2005)