The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has suspended Chairman Dmytro Razumkov from conducting plenary sessions of parliament for two plenary sessions.
240 MPs, of which 200 MPs were from the Servant of the People faction, supported the relevant decision at the meeting on Oct. 5. The For the Future and Dovira factions gave 16 and 18 votes in favor, respectively, the Holos faction and the non-factional deputies gave three votes each.
However, ten MPs from Holos, one MP from Dovira, six MPs from Servant of the People, some 18 MPs from Batkivschyna, some 24 MPs from the Opposition Platform – For Life, all 27 MPs from European Solidarity and nine non-factional parliamentarians voted against such a decision.
First deputy head of the Servant of the People faction Oleksandr Korniyenko said during the consideration of this issue that this is due to Razumkov’s refusal to put to the vote of the conciliatory council on Oct. 4 proposals on the agenda of the plenary sessions of Oct. 5 to Oct. 8.
“We believe that by such actions, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov, neglected the right of parliamentary factions to submit proposals to the weekly agenda of plenary sessions, which is a gross violation of the rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The deputy faction of Servant of the People, For the Future and Dovira […] make a proposal to remove the Verkhovna Rada chairman from the holding plenary sessions for two plenary days,” Korniyenko said.
Razumkov declared a conflict of interest and instructed First Deputy Chairmna Ruslan Stefanchuk to conduct the plenary session when considering this issue.
As reported, Head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction David Arakhamia sent a letter on behalf of the parliamentary faction recalling the chairman of the parliament. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky called the issue of Razumkov’s tenure as chairman of the Verkhovna Rada “intra-factional.”
