Boxer Klitschko to fight Ukraine's parliamentary polls

Ukraine`s WBC heavyweight boxing champion, Vitali Klitschko, has announced he will take part in the country`s snap parliamentary elections, the Ukrainian business daily Delo reported Tuesday, according to RIA Novosti.

"We are carrying out negotiations to form a bloc and will decide with whom to make the bloc. This may be the Klitschko Bloc or other political forces," Dmitry Andriyevsky, a city council member from Our Ukraine, told the newspaper.

Andriyevsky said Klitschko has been invited into the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, adding that the issue of allying with the Ukrainian prime minister had yet to be discussed.

President Viktor Yushchenko ordered last Thursday the dissolution of parliament and called snap parliamentary polls for December 7.

However, the election campaign has not started due to a judicial dispute that saw the presidential decree on snap elections overturned by the Kiev District Court. Yushchenko`s lawyer`s appealed the ruling in a higher court and the president later abolished the district court.

Klitschko hung up his gloves in November 2005 due to an injury to his right knee, but announced his comeback last year. He regained his WBC belt on Saturday in Germany by beating Samuel Peter, dubbed the Nigerian Nightmare.

The 37-year-old boxer has twice run for mayor of Kyiv, losing to current incumbent Leonid Chernovetsky both times. He has been elected to Kyiv City Council, where his bloc sits in opposition along with the Tymoshenko Bloc.

RIA Novosti