KIEV (AFP) -- Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko indicated Tuesday that Ukraine's early legislative elections would now be delayed until next year, amid a power struggle with his prime minister in the crisis-hit country.

""It would not be reasonable to hold elections during the year-end holidays,"" he told journalists in Warsaw on the sidelines of ceremonies marking the 90th anniversary of Poland's independence.
Last month, Yushchenko had decided to delay the snap polls by a week to December 14 as he recalled parliament to enact emergency measures to fight the global financial crisis.
But on October 29 the parliament rejected legislation proposed by the ruling party to finance the snap elections.
""We will do everything to adopt an anti-crisis package and to adopt the 2009 budget including an item on the financing of early elections,"" he added.
Yushchenko dissolved parliament on October 8 in a bitter power struggle with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who along with her supporters in parliament had long refused to prepare for the early elections.
Elections were last held on September 30 last year, five months after Yushchenko dissolved the parliament, giving a short majority to the pro-Western coalition grouping supporters of Timoshenko and the president. The alliance broke up in September.
Ukraine has been among the countries hardest hit by global financial turmoil as a plunge in the price of steel, its main export, exacerbates a credit crunch and a sharp fall in stock prices.
The country's currency, the hryvnia, has lost 20 percent of its value in recent weeks, sparking panic in a population already suffering from massive layoffs.
At the same time, the downturn has become increasingly politicized, with the president blaming the government for the country's problems.
Needing urgent help, the parliament on October 31 approved legislation clearing the way for a 16.5 billion dollar (12.8 billion euro) International Monetary Fund crisis loan after long political wrangling.
Yushchenko and his supporters in parliament had argued the measures should be adopted alongside the bill to finance the early parliamentary elections.