Coalition deal signed

President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense bloc officially signed a coalition deal with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc, along with the smaller Litvin Bloc, on 16 December 2008. Ukraine's government has been in a state of limbo since Yushchenko announced the Parliament's dissolution in September. Early elections were initially set to take place in December; however, they were canceled due to the country's current economic crisis, which was prompted by the global downturn.