By Yuri Kulikov and Natalya Zinets
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament dismissed the government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Wednesday, handing arch rival President Viktor Yanukovich the difficult task of stitching together a new ruling coalition.
Deputies passed a motion of no confidence in Tymoshenko's administration, with 243 out of 450 voting in favour.
The fall of the government came almost a month after Yanukovich defeated Tymoshenko, co-architect of the 2004 pro-Western Orange Revolution, in a bitter presidential run-off, a narrow victory that has yet to restore much-needed stability.
Yanukovich's Regions Party will now seek to form its own coalition within 30 days and a government within another 60, or face a snap parliamentary election.
"The (coalition) talks are not simple but I think they will be finalised in the coming days," Mykola Azarov, a close ally of Yanukovich and a likely candidate for the post of premier, told reporters after the vote.
"We have lost time," Azarov told parliament earlier. "In 2-3 years (the economy) will return to the level of 2005. We have lost a minimum of 10 years in the years of Tymoshenko's rule."
Even if Yanukovich succeeds in stitching together a coalition, the fractious nature of Ukraine's parliament and the limited powers of the presidency mean that the country -- split between a Russia-leaning east and south and a Western-friendly west and centre -- may yet face further political instability.
"It's just a continuation of the problem," Oleksander Pchela, a 20-year-old student in Kiev, said of Wednesday's vote.
"There's no unity, it's a battle for power. Tymoshenko will enter opposition, and will demand new elections. There's no end in sight while people vote for personalities but not for ideas."
CABINET WALKOUT
The nation of 46 million people desperately needs strong government to tackle a debilitating economic crisis that saw GDP contract by 15 percent in 2009, and to restart talks with the International Monetary Fund on a $16.4 billion (10.9 billion pound) bailout package.
Wednesday's vote marked the death knell for the fractious coalition that emerged from the 2004 pro-Western Orange Revolution, when street protests overturned results of a rigged election that gave Yanukovich victory.
Tymoshenko has refused to recognise Yanukovich's February 7 election victory, which is expected to tilt the former Soviet state back towards Russia.
She was typically defiant on Wednesday, telling parliament, "One can say that today this person, Yanukovich, presents a threat to (Ukrainian) independence, threat to its territorial integrity, to democracy and freedom of speech."
Tymoshenko said her cabinet had no intention of staying on in a caretaker capacity, spelling further uncertainty for the country while Yanukovich's party seeks a majority.
His party is currently the biggest bloc in the chamber with 171 seats but is well short of the required 226 majority.
Seven of Tymoshenko's bloc voted to dismiss the government, but only 15 of 71 members of the Our Ukraine bloc of former president and Orange revolutionary Viktor Yushchenko -- a critical bloc when it comes to forming the next coalition -- backed the motion.
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