You're reading: Opposition says vote for state budget was illegitimate, urge Rybak, Yanukovych not to sign adopted laws

The leaders of parliamentary opposition factions have said that the vote in the Verkhovna Rada on Thursday was illegitimate and described this as an overthrow of constitutional order in Ukraine and the seizure of power in the country.

“We are appealing to the international community: the regime of
[President] Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions has completely
destroyed state power in Ukraine. This is nothing else than the
overthrow of the constitutional order and the seizure of power in the
country,” Batkivschyna faction leader Arseniy Yatseniuk told journalists
in Kyiv on Jan. 16.

He said that neither Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Rybak nor
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has the right to sign the laws
adopted on Thursday.

Yatseniuk predicted that after the events that occurred in the
session hall of the Ukrainian parliament, Ukraine expects a second wave
of protests.

Svoboda faction leader Oleh Tiahnybok said that now only the people should have their say.

He also agreed with Yatseniuk that there was a coup and usurpation of power in the state.

UDAR Party leader Vitali Klitschko said that if the laws passed by
parliament are signed by the parliament speaker and the president, “we
will initiate a referendum on a vote of no-confidence in Rybak and the
president.”

Yatseniuk also said that the opposition’s demand on the
unacceptability of the signing of the adopted laws had been passed to
the parliament’s leadership.

“We have just passed a special statement in accordance with the law
of Ukraine on the rules of procedure, which prohibits the Verkhovna Rada
chairman to sign a law that was allegedly passed in the Verkhovna Rada
and which obliges him to return deputies to the session hall and hold
the voting procedure, as determined by the law and the constitution,”
Yatseniuk said.