KIEV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s opposition scored key victories yesterday in its bid to scrap a disputed presidential election as parliament voted no confidence in the government, and European-brokered talks provided momentum toward holding a new vote.

Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko urged throngs of supporters to stay on the streets until plans for what he demanded – a rerun of the November 21 runoff with Kremlin-backed Prime Minister Yanukovych – are worked out. He said such a vote could be held as early as December 19.

But President Kuchma, who backed Mr. Yanukovych, instead proposed an entirely new election, which would allow his Russian-allied government to field a more attractive candidate as it scrambles to stay in power with his 10 years in office running out.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who mediated talks yesterday between Messrs. Yuschenko and Yanukovych, also suggested a new vote but didn’t indicate whether it would be a repeat of the runoff or a new election. Mr. Kuchma, who earlier in the day called the idea of a new runoff “a farce,” also left the issue unclear.

The two candidates signed a deal to set up a group of lawyers to work out proposals for the “completion of the election,” a reference to drafting legislation to settle of the dispute. The statement also urged protesters to lift their siege of official buildings that has paralyzed the government’s work – but Mr. Yushchenko urged his backers to press ahead with their street protests.

“Our ranks mustn’t shrink,” Mr. Yushchenko told tens of thousands of his supporters who gathered on Kiev’s central Independence Square for the 11th straight night since the election commission declared his rival the winner in a vote he says was stolen. “We mustn’t leave until we have a revote date firmly set.”

Hours after the deal was signed, throngs of Mr. Yushchenko’s supporters continued to besiege the Cabinet and the presidential administration buildings, while thousands clad in his orange campaign colors crammed the central square under fireworks and listened to rock bands in a raucous celebration.

Mr. Yushchenko said he expected the Supreme Court to deliver a ruling today on his campaign’s appeal to invalidate the runoff result – based on claims of widespread violations across Mr. Yanukovych’s eastern and southern strongholds. Mr. Yanukovych has tried to counterattack by launching his own appeal contesting the vote results in pro-Yushchenko western provinces and the capital, but it wasn’t immediately clear when the court would address it.

The opposition has asked the court to declare Mr. Yushchenko the winner based on his narrow edge in the election’s first round, on October 31. But his call for a revote suggested he does not believe that the court will pronounce him the winner.

Messrs. Yushchenko, Yanukovych, and other participants in the talks in the ornate Mariinsky Palace presidential residence emphasized the need to prevent any actions that could split the country. Mr. Yanukovych’s supporters in the east have called for regional autonomy, sparking fears of Ukraine’s breakup.

Participants in the talks emphasized the need to avoid the use of force and said the next round of talks would be held after the Supreme Court’s ruling.

The negotiations – shepherded by Mr. Solana, President Kwasniewski of Poland, and other European leaders – came after Ukraine’s parliament passed a no-confidence measure in Mr. Yanukovych’s government with 229 votes, just three more than necessary in Ukraine’s 450-seat Verkhovna Rada.

A no-confidence vote automatically triggers the resignation of the government, which the president must accept – though he can allow it to continue to exercise its powers for up to 60 days, until a new Cabinet is formed.

However, many experts questioned the constitutionality of the vote, and Mr. Yanukovych called it a “political move that contradicted the law.” He refused to recognize it and said he would keep working.