Ukraine's Constitutional Court is shifting key powers from parliament to the presidency, a move that boosts the influence of the country's pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.
The court on Friday invalidated a controversial political reform passed in 2004. Now the president, not the legislature, in Ukraine names the prime minister and other Cabinet members.
The Constitution was hastily rewritten during the 2004 mass protests that swept Viktor Yushchenko to power. Those protests, known as the Orange Revolution, broke out after Yanukovych was declared the winner of a fraud-riddled election. That presidential vote was later tossed out.
Yushchenko then won, ruling until Yanukovych won the 2010 election.
The 2004 constitutional changes were often contradictory and led to a paralyzing tug-of-war between the president and prime minister.
