The acting deputies, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and deputies of the previous parliament convocations were in attendance to the session. Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko, the second and the third presidents, as well as Petro Poroshenko, the fifth president, were invited as honorary guests.
The Fundamental Law of the independent Ukraine was passed by 315 votes on June 28, 1996, at 9.20 in the morning after debates which lasted almost 24 hours. Out of 393 legislators of the second convocation, thirty-six voted against, 12 abstained and 30 deputies did not vote.
The Constitution was passed amid political confrontation between the then deputies and President Leonid Kuchma, who threatened to dissolve the Verkhovna Rada if the latter failed to adopt the Fundamental Law.
The 1996 Constitution sealed the legal foundations of the independent Ukraine, its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In his speech at the special session, President Zelenskyy called the Constitution “a very important symbol” of the independent Ukraine and “the bible of legal commandments of the country.”
The President was quoted as saying, “I think that the Constitution itself gives the best assessment of the Constitution. The first article begins with the word ‘Ukraine.’ And that says it all. Its second article begins with the word ‘sovereignty’ and the third – with the word ‘man.’ And that says it even more,” noted the sixth President.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said that he was submitting to the Verkhovna Rada the draft law on the Great State Emblem. It is the only state symbol, which is directly envisaged by the Constitution but still does not exist.
Parliament Speaker Dmytro Razumkov congratulated his fellow parliamentarians on the 25th anniversary of the Constitution. He reminded them that the adoption of the Fundamental Law would not be possible in the summer of 1996 if it were not for the general consent of all the then deputies, President Leonid Kuchma and Ukrainian society. Razumkov called upon the legislators to do their best and find common language regardless of their political disagreements. “We should seek political consensus. We should not only to seek it but to reach it putting aside political slogans and politics in general.”
The newspaper Voice of Ukraine
