The Communist Party leader said Ukraine's parliament has ceased to be "a public discussion floor" after the legislature stripped the Communist deputies on July 24 of their formal status as a parliamentary political group.
“The Ukrainian parliament, as any other, is a public discussion
floor, and so the Ukrainian parliament has forfeited its public
character and one point of view is represented there – the point of view
of the party of war – Batkivschyna, Svoboda and The Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform,” Petro Symonenko
told a news conference in Kyiv.
Parliamentary chairman Oleksandr Turchynov had announced earlier on today that the Communist group was being disbanded because of its
reduced membership.
Symonenko branded the move as the starting point of a “dictatorship
of a national fascist regime” and said it meant about 3 million people
had lost their representation in parliament.
He said Communist deputies would continue to work in parliament and
try to assert their position by introducing draft legislation and in
other ways.
He also said today’s disintegration of the ruling coalition in
parliament meant that the organizers of the collapse of the alliance
were disclaiming responsibility for their promises and for the situation
in the country.
