Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko announced Thursday to hold parliamentary election on Dec. 7.

"I decree ... to hold early elections on Dec. 7," he said on his official website.

On Wednesday, Yushchenko dissolved the parliament and called an early election in a political crisis following his party's withdrawal from the ruling coalition early September.

"In accordance with the Constitution I announce the dissolution of the sixth parliament and call an early vote," he said in a televised address to the nation.

Yushchenko defended his move as the only way to defend the country's democracy and national interests. He also vowed to hold "a democratic and lawful" vote.

Also on the same day, Yushchenko held talks with the country's political leaders on the issue of dissolving parliament, after which he left for Rome for a two-day official visit to Italy.

The vote will be the third parliamentary election in as many years. One year earlier, Ukraine held a snap parliamentary election in a try to resolve a lasting political crisis.

Yushchenko's "Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense" bloc quit the ruling coalition last month after Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc sided with the opposition Party of Regions to pass several laws on trimming presidential powers and triggered the political crisis.

Under Ukraine's constitution, the president can dissolve parliament if a new governing coalition is not formed within 30 days of the previous one collapsing.

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2008)