You're reading: Expert: Verkhovna Rada may just keep on working if opposition drops mandates

Ukraine will find itself in a political impasse if the opposition really drops Verkhovna Rada mandates, Oleksandr Chernenko, chairman of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine told Interfax-Ukraine on 4 November.

 

“If that really happens, there will be a new legal deadlock, and I do
not know how the problem may be solved because the current Verkhovna
Rada may keep on working without holding a new election,” he said.

Chernenko said that the opposition might keep its word. “We can see
that the count of votes is dragging out in a number of districts, which
goes beyond common sense and nullifies election gains of the opposition
in the political rather than quantitative respect,” he said.

“The weeklong delay in certain districts supplies the opposition with
trump cards and enables it to claim vote rigging, although votes have
been counted normally in 90% of districts. This is not the question of
the opposition’s winning additional five or ten mandates; this is the
question of a strong moral victory of the opposition over the
authorities, which are unable to count votes quickly,” he said.

“I think this is the cause of the opposition initiative – to nullify
the election outcome and to hold a new election – because the opposition
is winning a psychological victory,” Chernenko said.

“I do not know if that is realistic: there is a statement of the
leaders but there are also candidates elected in single-member
constituencies and on party tickets, among them opposition candidates,
and they have invested millions of dollars in their victory. Will they
agree to do that? Yet the scenario looks rather realistic,” he said.

If the new Verkhovna Rada fails to form a constitutional majority –
300 votes – and to convene for its session, there will be a new
breakdown – the current Verkhovna Rada controlled by the
pro-governmental party will have to schedule a new election.

“A decision will be political rather than legal: on one hand, the
process may be endless, and, on the other hand, I expect appeals to the
Constitutional Court and other measures. Actually, there will be no
simple solution. I think various collisions are possible if the
opposition takes some steps instead of just making declarations,” he
said.

Batkivschyna co-leader, No3 party candidate Anatoliy Hrytsenko said
on Sunday the Batkivschyna party should hold a congress and reject seats
at the Verkhovna Rada over vote rigging.

The UDAR Party of Vitali Klitschko is also considering the possible
congress, which will drop Verkhovna Rada mandates and deny recognition
to the parliamentary election. “The UDAR party is considering the
possibility to hold a party congress, to abandon mandates won by
candidates running in single-member constituencies and party ticket, and
to deny recognition to the parliamentary election,” party campaign
staff head Vitaliy Kovalchuk said on Sunday.

The all-Ukrainian Union Svoboda is prepared not to take the seats it
has won in the Verkhovna Rada but it has not received official proposals
to the effect from opposition partners and is studying possible legal
consequences of this step. “The question is how serious our allies are
and how much the decision is coordinated by partners: we have one party,
and the united opposition has several. Could it be so that some drop
their mandates while candidates running in single-member constituencies
stay in the parliament?” Svoboda spokesman, parliamentary candidate
Yuriy Syrotiuk said.