Parliament was expected to vote on former finance minister Mykola Azarov to head the government.

He was nominated by the new coalition led by Yanukovich´s Regions Party.

Azarov is seen as a safe pair of hands but no radical reformer.

He told parliament after his nomination his government´s main task was to redraft and get approval for a ´realistic´ 2010 budget.

Yanukovich was narrowly elected on February 7th over bitter rival Yulia Tymoshenko.

He appeared to be acting quickly to consolidate power to end years of dysfunctional government and economic backsliding after the pro-Western 2004 Orange Revolution.

The president proposed former Navy commander Mykhailo Yezhel as defence minister and Ukraine´s ambassador to Moscow, Kostyantyn Khryshchenko, as foreign minister.

Parliament speaker Volodymyr Litvyn announced a new alliance of 235 deputies from the 450-member parliament had been formed.

It followed a vote of no-confidence last week that ousted Tymoshenko as prime minister.

Ukraine needs a new government to adopt a delayed 2010 budget and restart talks with the International Monetary Fund on a suspended $16.4 billion dollar bail-out package.

Tymoshenko´s departure as prime minister marks the end of five years of rule by the leadership which emerged from the 2004 pro-Western "Orange Revolution".