Zelensky’s 248-member Servant of the People party is no longer a ruling one-party majority. Soon after it came to power it became clear that whenever the parliament needs to pass an important bill, it needs a prod from Zelensky.
Now it’s even worse: The Servant of the People is unable to pass key laws without the votes of the opposition, even though the faction has 22 members more than the number of the votes needed to adopt a bill.
During the March 30 emergency parliament session, lawmakers had a lot on their plate — three ministers were to be appointed, two crucial laws were
to be passed and the country’s budget was to be amended to ensure that the country had enough funds to battle the ongoing pandemic.
From the start, things didn’t go as planned. The governing party failed to appoint the ministers of finance and healthcare from the first try. The budget bill came three votes short and was sent back for revision.
After a short break, two ministers were appointed from the second try. Zelensky had to rush to the parliament and sit through the remainder of the session.
With Zelensky in attendance, the parliament passed the bank law and lifted the long-standing land moratorium, with both laws needed to secure an $8 billion loan program from the International Monetary Fund.
Yet, the laws were only passed because the two pro-European parties in opposition to Zelensky supported them: The European Solidarity party led by former President Petro Poroshenko and the Voice party led by former rock-star Svyatoslav Vakarchuk pushed the two vital bills over the hump. And the health minister was appointed only because he was supported by the pro-Russian Opposition Platform — For Life party.
It was long known that the Servant of the People party is far from being a single political entity. The party was formed from scratch after Zelensky won the presidency in April 2019 to participate in the snap parliamentary elections in July.
The president’s team picked people from wherever, ending up with a mix of random people who knew little of politics, and slickers from the oligarchs’ orbits, who knew it too well.
There was hope that the president and his closest circle will have enough leverage and strategic thinking to keep this motley crew in check. But that didn’t happen — instead, Zelensky’s own team started falling apart, with several of its closest members leaving or being fired, sometimes brutally and with a public beating. It’s no wonder that a quareling administration can’t keep control of the party.
Zelensky needs to learn to run his administration, and his party, more rigorously. Or he will have to call a snap Rada election, again — but this time, his party won’t get a majority, and he will lose control even further.
