Ten parties backing Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko today agreed to join forces for the September parliamentary elections, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported.

Ukraine's president said Thursday he has issued instructions to invite EU observers to monitor snap parliamentary elections scheduled for September 30.

Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko resigned Thursday as a member of her eponymous bloc in parliament. Supreme Rada Speaker Oleksandr Moroz read out her letter of resignation from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (YTB) at a morning session earlier Thursday.

France's UMP party won an overwhelming majority in the first round of parliamentary elections held Sunday, just over a month after its leader, Nicolas Sarkozy, was elected president

Many Iranian politicians are unhappy with the date recently set for Iran's next parliamentary elections, saying they are being planned at a time that would lower voter turnout and make it difficult to complain about the process or challenge the vote-counting procedures.

As President Viktor Yushchenko extended his deadline, Ukraine's lawmakers on Friday began voting on a series of bills needed to hold early elections. Ukraine has been embroiled in a political crisis since Yushchenko issued a decree on April 2 to dissolve the parliament and to call early elections.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has extended his deadline for parliament to pass a series of laws needed to hold early elections, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych says new obstacles are impeding the approval of a legislative package needed for holding early parliamentary elections in September.

Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, is due to begin two days of meetings aimed at passing a package of bills enabling the country to hold early elections September 30.

After days of rising political tensions in Ukraine and concerns over the possible use of force, the country's leaders have reached an agreement to settle their long-standing dispute. President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych announced that Ukraine's political crisis -- which had sparked concerns over the possible use of force -- was finally over.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko says parliamentary elections should be held before the October date suggested by his rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

The anti-crisis group set up to work out legal mechanisms for early parliamentary elections in Ukraine has reconvened in the capital, Kyiv. VOA's Lisa McAdams in Moscow updates the proceedings, which began just after President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych agreed to hold new elections aimed at ending more than a month of political deadlock.