The national daily newspaper Uryadovy Courier (Government Courier) has published the decree of President Volodymyr Zelensky enacting the dissolution of the current Verkhovna Rada and holding a snap parliamentary election.
Under the decree, the election is slated for July 21st of this year. The document comes into force on the day of its official publication or May 23rd.
By his decree the President instructs the Government to assign finances for conducting the election to the Verkhovna Rada.
As we have informed earlier, Volodymyr Zelensky has offered the Verkhovna Rada to amend two bills including the legislation on the election of people’s deputies. At the extraordinary session convened on Wednesday, May 22nd , these two presidential bills fell short of votes to be put on the agenda of the session. In particular, the presidential bill on the changes to the election law envisages the proportional election system with closed party lists and the 3% threshold for political parties. So, the upcoming parliamentary elections will be held according to the current mix (majoritarian-proportional) system.
The deputies did not support the presidential initiative explaining that he had submitted the wrong bill and not the one they had agreed on earlier. The point was about the proportional electoral system with open party lists while Zelensky presented the draft law that suggests quite the opposite – the closed lists, a provision which, as the deputies claim, will lead to corruption and power usurpation by one or two political forces.
Volodymyr Zelensky believes that the Parliament has killed his initiative intentionally because old politicians hope to prolong their political life. He wrote this on Facebook.
In the meantime, Speaker Parubiy stated that the decision of the newly-elected President to dissolve the Parliament contradicted the Constitution and would be appealed against at the court of law.
