Immediate implementation of political reform. Yushchenko must ensure the participation of the Our Ukraine faction in the constitutional process and support for the political reform project agreed upon in content and implementation timelines;

On the land issue, Yushchenko must undertake to immediately cancel the president's veto on the law banning the sale of agricultural land;

Yushchenko must declare that no guarantees of immunity from criminal liability will be given to either President Kuchma or his entourage.

Yushchenko must also guarantee the swiftest investigation of high-profile murders;

Yushchenko must undertake to adopt a decision on withdrawing troops from Iraq within 2 weeks;

Yushchenko must take on the implementation of the SPU's social provisions: a minimum wage and pension of no less than the subsistence minimum, reduction of utility tariffs, return of citizens' savings, free education and healthcare;

Yushchenko must cancel the "illegal privatization of strategically important facilities";

Yushchenko must support Ukraine's non-aligned status and must guarantee the development of "good relations with neighbors, first and foremost with Russia."

The memorandum states that these obligations, if accepted by Yushchenko, will be a guarantee of "active support for his candidacy in the second round."

The SPU wants these provisions to be formalized in a bilateral agreement. The text bears the signatures of the socialists: Moroz, Vinskyi, Bokyi, Lutsenko, Nikolayenko, Harmash, Chernikov, Shybko and Melnychuk.

In an interview with journalists, Moroz said that the Socialist Party will propose voting on the political reform on November 9, next Tuesday.

When asked what the SPU would do if Our Ukraine members vote but their votes are insufficient to amend the constitution, Moroz said that they would support Yushchenko regardless.

But if Our Ukraine does not provide the votes, Moroz said: "Then we must say that they cannot fulfill these conditions."

Earlier on Wednesday, Lutsenko stated that he personally was ready to support candidate Yushchenko because he is "categorically against the formula of not supporting either candidate."

"I am voting for Yushchenko because I am categorically against the formula of not supporting either of the two candidates who made it to the second round of elections. In fact, this is the position of Pontius Pilate, who washed his hands at the decisive moment," the statement reads.

"It is a pity that we again have to choose between two evils. And yet, this is an opportunity for choice," he added.

He also recalled that the SPU congress had adopted a decision on the impossibility of supporting the candidate from the authorities.

"Whether all SPU supporters will vote for him depends on the negotiations between the two opposition leaders, about readiness for which Oleksandr Moroz has already declared. I am confident that given serious socialization of Viktor Yushchenko's action program, we will be able to achieve victory over Kuchmism together," the document states.

In a comment to UP, he emphasized that this is his personal position. According to him, there are other supporters of backing Yushchenko, but they have not announced their position officially.

"Ukrainska Pravda"

* * * * *

Moroz gave Yushchenko until Saturday

The Socialist Party intends to complete negotiations with presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko by Saturday.

On that day, a meeting of the political council will be held, at which a final decision on supporting Yushchenko will be adopted, SPU leader Oleksandr Moroz told journalists in an interview on Wednesday.

He confirmed that at the SPU political executive committee meeting on Wednesday, a decision was adopted to support Yushchenko's candidacy in the second round of elections on the condition that he "undertakes obligations to implement the key provisions of the Socialist Party's program."

According to the socialist leader, if an agreement is reached, this document will be formalized as a bilateral agreement either between the Socialist Party and the Our Ukraine bloc, or directly between Moroz and Yushchenko.

Furthermore, he noted, the framework of the future agreement may be "less rigid than in the memorandum," and "there may be a different wording." "But the mandatory condition is to participate in carrying out the political reform," Moroz emphasized.

Justifying the need to complete negotiations by Saturday, he recalled that it is precisely on that day that the SPU political council meeting will take place, at which it "will finally determine its position on this matter."

"If we support, then support actively; if our conditions are unacceptable, then we need to say so frankly to society," the SPU leader stated.

At the same time, Moroz expressed hope that such an agreement would be reached, because the positions of the socialists and "Our Ukraine" "coincide by 95%."

Furthermore, in his opinion, if the negotiations are not completed by that time, then subsequently "they will lose meaning," since party headquarters in the regions will stop working.

Commenting on the past first round of negotiations with Yushchenko, the SPU leader reported that at it "issues related to the second round were generally discussed, and their approximate content is set out in this document (memorandum)."

Answering the agency's question whether the Socialist Party would continue to support Yushchenko in the second round if, during the vote on Tuesday, November 9, the "Our Ukraine" faction supports the political reform bill but the law is not adopted, Moroz said: "If 'Our Ukraine' supports, we will support 'Our Ukraine.'"

As reported, at the SPU political executive committee meeting on Wednesday, a memorandum on the party's political strategy in the second round of the presidential elections was adopted.

As noted in the document, the Socialist Party "has determined the impossibility of supporting the candidate from the authorities."

Furthermore, the SPU states that it may support presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko in the second round of the presidential elections, but only if he undertakes to adopt the key provisions of the program of the SPU candidate Oleksandr Moroz, in particular, the immediate implementation of political reform.

According to preliminary data, the Socialist Party leader placed third in the presidential elections on October 31 after Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Yushchenko. The leaders of the presidential race are counting on the socialists' votes in the second round.

Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko previously recommended that his comrades vote against both candidates.