Ukraine's parliament split in half on April 4, as the pro-presidential majority conducted an alternative parliament session, while the opposition gathered in the regular session hall. The majority's decision was branded as “a coup” by the opposition, which is calling for demonstrations.
This
conflict is the latest development in a series of gridlocks in
parliament, which has kept the legislature mostly paralyzed since its
election on Oct. 28. The latest standoff started on April 2, when the
opposition blocked the work of the session, demanding a new election
in Kyiv.
The
capital has had no mayor since July 2012, when the old mayor
resigned. The Party of Regions, however, insists that a new mayoral
election should be appointed after the Constitutional Court produces
a ruling on when and how it should be conducted.
After
failing to find a common ground with the opposition on mayoral
election and unblocking the Verkhovna Rada, the majority, comprised
of the Party of Regions, Communist party, some non-aligned deputies
and even two Batkivshchyna deputies who quit their faction, took a
vote by show of hands to conduct a session in an alternative location. A total
of 244 deputies supported the move.
Speaker
Volodymyr Rybak, who presided over the session held in the committee
building on 6-8 Bankova Street, said the law allowed for a parliament
session outside the regular location, as long as it was supported by
the majority.
“I
asked for advice from lawyers, and they said it does not contradict
the rules of procedure,” he told journalists at a briefing. “We
cannot have a parliament that is not working for six months. We
either have to self-dissolve, or ask the president to dissolve us.”
The
opposition, which convened in the regular session hall, disagreed
with the majority’s reasoning, and said their gathering was, in fact,
illegitimate.
Viktor
Chumak, an opposition member of parliament from Vitali Klitschko’s
Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms, said that according to a
July 2012 Constitutional Court decision, a parliament session can be
held in an alternative location only once it’s approved by a vote in
the regular session hall.
“First
they should pass the decision in the parliament building, about
gathering anywhere else. And then they can gather anywhere else,”
Chumak said.
Arseniy
Yatseniuk, one of the leaders of the opposition who heads the
Batkivshchyna faction, has called the new gathering “a coup”
and called on the general prosecutor to start an investigation.
“Any
attempts to make decisions this way is an attempt to seize power and
is a violation of the Ukrainian constitution,” Yatseniuk said.
The opposition also called for a street protest on April 7.
Dozens
of members of the three oppositional factions attempted to enter the
building where the majority’s session was being conducted, but the
building was blocked by the state guard, said Oleksandr Bryhynets, a
Batkivshchyna member.
In
the meantime, the majority held a very fruitful session, approving 20
laws in just a few hours, part of them in the final reading. Some of
the laws are key for the nation’s politics and economy. For example,
changes were introduced in public procurement legislation, limiting
participation of foreign companies in government tenders, unless they
have production facilities in Ukraine.
The
state budget was amended, relieving the notoriously corrupt state company
Ukravtodor, which is in charge of the nation’s roads, from the requirement to provide collateral for banking loans taken
under state guarantees.
Despite
the fact that the majority voted by show of hands, the process of
vote counting was lighting fast. Speaker Rybak announced the result
instantly, which caused much ridicule by the observers who were able
to watch a live broadcast via parliament’s official Rada TV channel.
The
status of the session and the laws approved on April 4 remain
unclear. Oleksiy Haran, professor of political sciences at Kyiv
Mohyla Academy, says the laws are “extremely controversial”
because the legitimacy of both the majority’s session and the voting
procedure is under question.
He
said a compromise is needed badly between the majority and the
opposition, starting with a compromise on mayoral election, which
caused the latest gridlock.
Haran
says that everything hinges on the political will of the puppet
masters, primarily President Viktor Yanukovych and his
administration. “If there is a decision to break everyone’s spine,
there will be no compromises,” he says.
The
president’s administration had no immediate comment on the events,
though, and a compromise seems as far from anyone’s mind as ever.
Speaker Rybak
said that the morning session on April 5 will move back to the
session hall, but Party of Regions faction head Oleksandr Yefremov
said there were conditions attached: “We will come back to the hall
under one condition – do not set us any ultimatums.”
Kyiv
Post editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at
[email protected].
Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska contributed to this report.
