Ukraine's Victor Yanukovych said he would seek a new ruling coalition if he won election next month as president and he ruled out cooperation with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, his rival for the top job.
Opposition leader Yanukovych, 59, speaking to a group of foreign journalists, accused Tymoshenko, whose government negotiated a $16.4 billion bail-out programme with the International Monetary Fund and a tricky gas deal with Russia, of "ineffectiveness".
"Her lack of method and her ineffectiveness and authoritarianism in directing the country is a policy … that has no prospects," he said.
Asked whether he would work with Tymoshenko as prime minister, he said: "That is impossible".
"The negotiation process to form a new coalition will begin straight away after the presidential election," Yanukovych said.
"Of course, there will be a snap election if a coalition is not created," he said.
Yanukovych led Tymoshenko by 10 percentage points in a first round vote on Jan. 17 and the two rivals face each other in a Feb. 7 runoff for president.
Tymoshenko, 49, has also been sharp in her criticism of the rough-hewn Yanukovych, who is backed by wealthy industrialists in the industrial east of the country which is his support base.
She has ridiciuled his comparatively poor education and described him as a "puppet" of the oligarchs.
