Oleksandr Lashchenko
Kyiv – The updated Verkhovna Rada is unlikely to be any better than what we saw within the current Parliament. This was stated by political expert Olexiy Holobutskiy in an interview to Radio Liberty. This is how he commented on the decision of President Petro Poroshenko to disband the seventh Verkhovna Rada. The political expert also concluded: after the victory of Maidan, the responsibility for the new parliament corps lies on the electorate. And who approves the laws depends first and foremost on them: populists, oligarch spokesmen or real legislators.
– Poroshenko promised to disband the current Parliament so there can be no further questions for him.
– Poroshenko stated during his announcement regarding the early seventh Verkhovna Rada disbandment that the current Parliament “has been Yanukovych’s basis for 1,5 years. And the majority of these Parliament members approved the dictator laws that took the lives of the Heaven’s Hundred. Numerous members of the Parliament are either direct sponsors and accomplices or sympathizers to the separatist mercenaries. It is no secret: the fifth estate consists of dozens of so-called Parliament members.” To your mind, will there really be no traitors in the new Rada?
– It’s a difficult questions. There will be both traitors and scoundrels there. The same as it was in this Verkhovna Rada. But you know there is the issue of accountability, right? The people will vote within two months – and it will be their responsibility. The elections are needed on principle, however the voters have to consider whom they’re voting for. Who is the most popular candidate now? Liashko. The people will vote for him. He will have 70-80 members in the Parliament. The electorate has to feel this.
– What can Poroshenko count on at these parliamentary elections: will there be a strong pro-President majority or will the Rada turn into an opposition bastion for the President?
– The President has all the chances, as the elections will be very fast. We understand that elections will be held within majority districts – the people will vote for the President and this is normal. So there are chances of Solidarnist winning and making a pro-President faction. But this is not certain. As I know that Batkivshchina, Liashko and other politicians that are not pro-Presidential are currently forming a new majority. And the possibility of there being a non-pro-Poroshenko within the new Parliament is quite high.
– Some of the observers and numerous voters, when demanding the current Verkhovna Rada be dismissed and a new one be chosen, predict that the next Parliament will be divided into oligarch-controlled groups. Do you agree with such prognoses?
– It is clear that, say, Ihor Kolomoyskiy will not forego majority districts in Dnipropetrovsk oblast. In general it will be an oligarch-dependent Verkhovna Rada. Once more, though, it will be the voters’ responsibility. The voters want it, so the situation will be thus. This Verkhovna Rada will be even more oligarchical than the former one.
Source: Radio Liberty
Translated by Mariya Shcherbinina
