A new coalition is in charge of the Ukranian parliament and they quickly got down to business by approving newly-elected President Viktor Yanukovych's choice for prime minister.

The election of Mykola Azarov as premier lets Yanukovych consolidate his power and ends the long-running rivalry between Ukraine's head of state and head of government.

Azarov was Yanukovych's campaign strategist in this year's presidential elections.

He leads the new majority coalition, called "Reforms and Order."

The coalition  includes Yanukovych's Party of Regions, the Communists, and the party led by parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, formerly allied with the pro-Western "Orange" coalition.

The coalition was formed after parliament approved constitutional amendments that allowed individual deputies to abandon their factions in parliament.

President Yanukovych had earlier also introduced his ministerial candidates for defence and foreign affairs, as well as for the head of the security service.

The coalition controls 235 of the 450 chamber seats, including more than a dozen defectors from Tymoshenko's and Yushchenko's factions.

Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was ousted on March 3 in a no-confidence vote after her Orange coalition fell.

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