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Rada fails to pass resolution on support for democracy, which addressed Zelensky’s powers

MPs failed to approve a resolution on supporting democracy in Ukraine, which stated that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s powers should continue until the end of martial law. This was reported by MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak.

According to him, 218 MPs voted in favor of the resolution. The official title of the document to be voted on is “Statement of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Supporting Democracy in Ukraine in the Face of Russian Aggression.”

In it, according to Zheleznyak, the parliament was supposed to “emphasize the need to comply with the principle of institutional continuity of power provided for by the laws of Ukraine, especially in the conditions of the legal regime of martial law.”

[Kommersant asked Ukrainian MPs and experts about the essence of this resolution and why it failed to be adopted.

Yuriy Kamelchuk, MP from the Servant of the People party, said:

“The essence of the resolution is that we declared elections after the lifting of martial law, and that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will fulfill his duties until the next president, who will be elected in democratic elections, takes office. And, accordingly, the EU faction was completely against it, that is, they did not give their votes.”

According to the MP, a total of 8 votes were missing.

“Of course, those who did not come to the meeting of the Verkhovna Rada are also to blame, and the EU faction could have supported it as well.”

He emphasized that a lot of delegates, representatives of foreign parliaments, and country leaders had traveled to Ukraine.

“And all this was in the hall, and it looked, to put it mildly, not very good. That is, it’s definitely not about unity, which Poroshenko and his faction often talk about. And it’s definitely not about some kind of common result, the same, single voice from Ukraine for the international community.”

Yaroslav Yurchyshyn of the Golos party said that the resolution contained a legal response to those who are responding to Russia’s provocations in the international arena and questioning the president’s legitimacy.

“There are no grounds for such a statement, so the parliament decided to refute any manipulations. There were not enough votes for two reasons: the mono-majority failed to mobilize its members, so the Servant of the People gave less than 150 votes, and European Solidarity decided not to participate in the vote due to the introduction of sanctions against Poroshenko. It’s a shame, because incompetence and politicization worked against national interests.”

According to Mykhailo Tsymbalyuk, a member of the Batkivshchyna party, there are objective reasons for the absence of votes. First, the full European Solidarity did not vote. And there were no more MPs in the session hall.

“In addition, a large number of deputies are ill, including those from our faction. Why the European Solidarity did not vote, I guess, is a question for them.

This resolution was about supporting democracy in Ukraine, about the need to unite in this difficult time, etc.”

In his turn, Eurosolidarity MP Oleksiy Honcharenko said that there are problems with democracy in Ukraine and “we know this, and that’s why I wasn’t going to vote for it.”

“If someone today says that it was important, then the question is where was our majority, who are actually responsible for the situation in the country, and under whom, unfortunately, television is largely controlled by the state, there is pressure on the opposition, there is pressure on local government.

Unfortunately, in Ukraine, Zelenskyy demonstrates a desire for authoritarianism, which is obvious. Therefore, in such circumstances, voting for any statements is not the way to vote, but to return democracy to the state.”

MP Yevheniia Kravchuk from the Servant of the People party said:

“Obviously, for some of my colleagues, they decided not to come to the Verkhovna Rada meeting, thinking that it would be just a symbolic meeting where we would just speak, sing God is great, united, without voting. Just a low presence. It’s really shameful.”

Military expert Dmytro Snegirev believes:

“It is clear why they did not support it. Whatever the case, the mono-majority remains. And, accordingly, such a resolution calls into question the very nature of the legitimacy of the first person’s tenure.”

According to him, it is worth mentioning that there is actually a joint statement by all factions of the Verkhovna Rada on the impossibility of holding elections under martial law. Therefore, the very nature of putting the resolution to a vote is quite controversial.

“The question here is what they wanted to achieve with this resolution. If we are talking about holding elections, then I emphasize once again that this is fundamentally impossible, and the authors of this legislative initiative understood this perfectly.

That is, to create a news story out of nothing – well, there is no question. That is, it is nothing more than an informational pretext to attract attention. And it is quite significant that they introduced it today.”

According to the military expert, the main emphasis was most likely on the visit of representatives of the European Parliament and top officials to Ukraine. Most likely, it was meant to work on this target audience.

“For the domestic consumer, this topic would hardly fly, as they say. So they tried to create, let’s say, an informational occasion in this way. In other words, this is an attempt to turn the attention specifically to the authors of this legislative initiative, knowing full well that it will not be voted for.”

MP from the Servant of the People party, Heorhiy Mazurashu, said he was surprised that there were not enough votes to pass the resolution. Especially on February 24, when we have a sad anniversary of the full-scale Russian aggression and the National Day of Prayer..

“On the same day, the parliament heard words about the importance of unity around the defense cause, about how important it is to join forces to resist the aggressors. And then they immediately missed a few votes for this resolution.

Of course, the essence of the resolution, in my opinion, is somewhat narrower than the title. But I don’t think it can be an excuse in this situation.”

He also said that democratic values should be more widely protected even during martial law. But this does not mean that we should not vote for resolutions that should demonstrate our internal unity to the world.

“Well, the fact that representatives of Eurosolidarity did not vote for the draft resolution was not very surprising. But the fact that only 146 of our Servant of the People faction voted in favor is very strange. Probably, someone should do their job in the hall, and not sit in the cafeteria when the meeting is in progress. I have already supported the reintroduction of a similar resolution with my signature, and I hope that it will be adopted in the near future.”