The Central Election Commission on March 28 stripped Yegor Firsov and Mykola Tomenko, critical ex-members of the Bloc of President Petro Poroshenko, of their parliamentary mandates.
Last week a congress of
the bloc voted to expel them from the Verkhovna Rada.
The lawmakers’ expulsion
follows large-scale corruption accusations by Firsov against Ihor Kononenko and
Oleksandr Hranovsky, influential lawmakers from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc.
Firsov and Tomenko describe the move as a political vendetta.
The Poroshenko Bloc denies
the accusations.
The decision is the first-ever implementation of a constitutional clause
allowing parties to expel members who leave their factions.
Critics question the legality
of the expulsion, since the Constitution stipulates that there should be a law
under which lawmakers can be expelled. However, no such law has been passed.
The Poroshenko Bloc’s
opponents also argue that the Constitution may create a right to expel members from parliament if they leave their parties but not an obligation.
Meanwhile, journalist Yevheny Plinsky has cast doubt on the legitimacy of
the Poroshenko Bloc vote. He published a video that appears to indicate that there
were not enough votes for the expulsion of Firsov and Tomenko.
The legitimacy of the
current Central Election Commission has also been questioned. The authority of
Mikhailo Okhendovsky, chairman of the commission and an ally of disgraced ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, and
11 other members of the 15-member commission expired in June 2014.
However, Poroshenko has
refused to replace them.
See a related story and a related opinion piece.
Kyiv Post staff
writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected]
