ANALYSIS-Tymoshenko's past haunts bid for Ukraine PM post

By Sabina Zawadzki

KIEV, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The chaos of Yulia Tymoshenko's premiership two years ago is hampering her attempt to win back her job and has made the foreign business community wary of her possible return.

Her passionate speeches during the 2004 "Orange" revolution fuelled protests for weeks and helped to sweep President Viktor Yushchenko to power after a re-run of a fraudulent election.

But the same fiery rhetoric caused mayhem among her allies, made relations with Russia difficult and spooked investors with calls for a review of state sell-offs and interference in markets. Yushchenko sacked her after just seven months.

A possible second stab at the job worries investors, unsure whether she and her allies, who hold a tiny majority in parliament, could push through urgent reforms to underpin an economy powered by high global steel prices.

"There is trepidation within the business community," a senior business source said. "Will she interfere in markets as she had a tendency to do in the past or will she be able to get people to coalesce around her and get something done?"

The former Soviet state's economy has absorbed big yearly gas price rises from Russia and grown by about 7 percent in recent years. Some service sectors, such as banking, have developed and Ukrainians are spending their rising wages.

But the heavy industry on which the economy depends needs modernisation and corruption persists at all levels.

And it is still difficult to separate business and politics. All major parties have oligarch backers and any businessman worth his salt sits in parliament, including Ukraine's richest man Rinat Akhmetov, or has interests represented in it.