Lytvyn: Constitutional Court current mechanism for speaker's election is constitutional

Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn has sent a letter to the Constitutional Court regarding an application from 51 MPs regarding the constitutionality of the provisions of the parliament's rules of procedure on the mechanism for electing parliament speaker, the Verkhovna Rada's press service reported on Wednesday.

 "The procedure for electing the Verkhovna Rada head concerns issues of the internal organization of the parliament's work, which cannot be subject to constitutional normative control," he said.

The press service recalled that MPs had asked the Constitutional Court to recognize unconstitutional the provisions of the rules of procedure on the election of speaker by secret ballot by submitting ballots and provided that ballots are received by at least two thirds of MPs of their actual number.

At the same time, Lytvyn noted that the Constitution of Ukraine does not contain clauses and cannot regulate the procedure for holding a vote on the election of the Verkhovna Rada head.

"However, only the Verkhovna Rada has the right to change the existing procedure of voting by filing ballots when the issue concerns, in particular, the election of the head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and his dismissal from office (Paragraph 15, Part 1, Article 85 and Paragraph 21, Part 1, Article 92 of the Constitution of Ukraine)," the speaker said in a letter to the Constitutional Court.

In addition, Lytvyn said that MPs had not taken into account the fact that regulating the internal organization of parliamentary work is outside the competence of the Constitutional Court.

"Changing such a legal position, which is proposed by a group of people's deputies of Ukraine, would be intervention in the competence of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine that adopts laws, which was confirmed by the signature of the Ukrainian president concerning the constitutionality of parliament's powers to decide itself on intra-organizational relations," the speaker said.

As reported on July 3, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the language bill in the absence of Lytvyn, which triggered a series of protests in Ukraine.

Lytvyn refused to sign the law and tendered his resignation, but lawmakers refused to consider his statement.

On July 4, the Verkhovna Rada introduced amendments to its rules of procedure on the election, appointment and recall of its officials.

According to the adopted law, the decision on the election of parliament speaker is made through an open roll-call vote by a majority of deputies of the constitutional composition. Earlier, the speaker was elected by secret ballot by two thirds of MPs.