Volodymyr Zelenskiy will be inaugurated president of Ukraine on May 20.
The parliament voted on May 16 to schedule Zelenskiy’s inauguration. The president-elect himself wanted it to take place on May 19, which met some criticism due to it being the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions in Ukraine.
An inauguration on May 20 means that Zelenskiy will be able to dissolve the parliament and schedule a snap election, which he said was something he considers doing. The parliament’s term ends in six months, with election scheduled for Oct. 27. The parliament can be dismissed no later than six months before that, making May 27 the deadline for that.
Because of the dissolution threat, the date of inauguration became the apple of discord between Zelenskiy and the parliament, where the biggest party, the 135-member Poroshenko’s Bloc, is loyal to his election contestant. Zelenskiy accused the parliament of intentionally dragging their feet in setting up the inauguration.
As a result, the inauguration date was finally set up more than three weeks after Zelenskiy won presidential election on April 21, getting 73 percent of the vote against the current President Petro Poroshenko’s 24.5 percent.
