Ukraine’s parliament was supposed to have its first session after the winter break on Feb. 5. But three days later not a single hearing was held, as the opposition blocked the rostrum with their demand to enforce personal voting by each elected deputy.
To maintain vigilance, members of Vitali Klitschko’s Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms have taken night shifts to ensure that the ruling majority does not sneak in for a secret session behind the backs of the opposition. By law, a simple majority of 226 deputies is required to have a legitimate session. A combined effort of the pro-presidential Party of Regions, who have 208 deputies, and the Communists, who have 32, would be enough for a quorum.
Valeriy Patskan, a deputy from UDAR, says his party has a schedule ready: some people stay overnight, others come to replace them at 5 a.m.
“I have been here for both nights, then in the morning went home to grab a couple of hours of sleep, and came back,” says Patskan.
Despite the bravado, he has red eyes and looks tired, like most of his colleagues, including Klitschko, who spent some time in the session hall on the second night of the overnight sit-in on Feb. 6.
“There are 14 to 16 people in the session hall at all times. At night we talk, read news and discuss draft laws and ideas. Time flies,” says Pavlo Rozenko of UDAR. The faction took a vote to decide on whether night shifts are needed.
UDAR says it wants to pressure parliament’s leadership to observe the constitutional and legal demand that for years has been ignored, mostly by the pro-presidential Party of Regions and their allies who currently enjoy a majority.
UDAR has full support from their partners in opposition including Batkivshchyna, led by Arseniy Yatseniuk, and nationalist Svoboda led by Oleh Tiahnybok, both of which stopped short of sharing night shifts.
“It is their tactic. Ours is to block the session hall at daytime,” says Mykola Tomenko, a Batkivshchyna member.
Some analysts interpret this as a sign of disunity in the opposition, despite the fact that the three leaders have demonstrated significant unity since the Oct. 28 parliament elections.
The opposition claims that mandatory personal voting is easy enough to enforce by activating touch-sensitive buttons installed in the Rada whenYatseniuk was speaker in 2007-2008. These buttons have never been used. The alternative is to vote by raising hands, they suggest.
The Party of Regions acknowledges that previously many of their ranks have failed to vote for themselves, or even show up. According to Chesno civic campaign, out of the 20 parliamentary members who missed 98 percent of sessions in 2011, 16 were members of the Party of Regions. In most cases, their vote cards were used by their colleagues. But the Party of Regions says they have changed their ways, and have all been present in the first three days when the session was supposed to start.
“I think the situation will change. We told them – minimize all your other engagements in session days so that we have people in here and they vote personally,” says Volodymyr Oliynyk from the Party of Regions.
They also claim that the touch-sensitive button is unable to guarantee personal voting. “I can show you how I can vote with the touch-sensitive button for myself and for my neighbor easily,” says Oliynyk.
The Party of Regions faction leader Oleksandr Yefremov said it is possible to vote even by putting a cell phone on the button.
The majority’s position is adamant – unblock the parliament and then the hearing on the voting system will be held. “Then we can decide what is the best way to secure personal voting,” says the head of the regulatory committee Volodymyr Makeyenko of the Party of Regions.
“Voting for other people in parliament did not start today or even in 2010. I will suggest that the same was done during (Viktor) Yushchenko’s presidency and even when (opposition leader Arseniy) Yatseniuk was the speaker,” says Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta think tank.
He adds that some members of the opposition were caught voting for other people as well in the past. “The most important thing now is to find a compromise before the EU-Ukraine summit on Feb. 25, for the sake of the country’s image.”
Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at [email protected].
