Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov has announced the dissolution of the Ukrainian Communist Party faction in the Verkhovna Rada.
He said at a morning meeting of parliament on Thursday, July 24 that after the
elections to the Verkhovna Rada the Ukrainian Communist Party faction
included 33 MPs.
“As of June 1, 2014, this faction was reduced to 23 MPs, which is
significantly less than the minimum number of faction members… On this
basis, I am announcing the dissolution of the Ukrainian Communist Party
faction,” Turchynov said.
“I hope that the Communist faction will never be represented in
parliament,” he added, describing the dissolution of the Communist Party
faction as a “historic event.”
It was reported earlier that several members had left the Communist
Party’s parliamentary faction over the past month, reducing its
composition compared to what it was while it was formed at the first
session of the current parliament.
The Verkhovna Rada passed legislation on July 22 entitling its
chairman with the power to dissolve a faction that has lost some of its
members compared to the number it had while it was formed during the
first parliamentary session. The bill was supported by 232
parliamentarians. Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov vowed to forward the bill
to the president for signature later in the day, “so that he should sign
it immediately, and after that I will announce the dissolution of the
Ukrainian Communist Party faction.”
Some parliamentarians have also proposed an amendment to the rules of
procedure entitling the speaker to dissolve a parliamentary faction or
group if the number of its members becomes lower than that of the
smallest faction formed during the first parliamentary session. In this
case, the speaker would have the right to dissolve such a faction within
15 days.
Late on July 22, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed the
amendments to the Verkhovna Rada’s rules of procedure adopted on June
22, according to which a parliamentary faction may be dissolved. The
amendments were published and came into effect on July 24.
