Naked women and broken fences. Several brawls and plenty of insults.
Against this background, Ukraine got a prime minister and new speaker, both in their 60s and both veterans from the pro-presidential Party of Regions.
Those were the achievements from the Dec. 12-13 session of the newly elected Verkhovna Rada. The intensity of the two days hints at what lies ahead: Chaos, with the incumbent power brokers having the upper hand, but facing stronger challenges from a revitalized opposition that gained a solid minority in the Oct. 28 election.
Unable to do anything but fight on Dec. 12, members of the 450-seat parliament reconvened the next day to fight more before finally voting in Volodymyr Rybak as speaker. Mykola Azarov was shortly thereafter confirmed as prime minister, getting 252 votes in the 450-seat legislature.
The appointments were supported by the Party of Regions, the Communists and some independents elected in single-mandate districts.
Parliament now has five factions. The Party of Regions has 210 lawmakers, imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna faction comes second with 99, Vitali Klitschko’s Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms has 42 seats, Svoboda – 37, and the Communists – expected to have 33. Twenty four lawmakers have not joined any factions, and five seats remain vacant until repeat votes are scheduled next year.
The three opposition parties – Batkivshchyna, UDAR and Svoboda – have a total of 178 and mostly acted in unison on the Rada’s first days: they blocked the podium and many initiatives proposed by the Regions together, and challenged the Communists’ legal standing.
But parliamentarians were not alone in their tactics. Femen, the famous group of Ukrainian topless female activists, took off their clothes to protest against the incompetence and corruption of the nation’s lawmakers. The demonstrators were quickly arrested and carried away by police officers.
The swearing-in ceremony at the Rada looked like a high-life event: the hall was packed with lawmakers, diplomats, a choir who sang the national anthem and swarms of reporters. Even church leaders attended. Two deputies who did not grace the previous parliament with their presence very often – businessman Yuriy Ivaniushchenko from the Party of Regions and Kostyantyn Zhevago, formerly of the Batkivshchyna faction – showed up for the ceremony. Ivaniushchenko told reporters that this time he will come to parliament more often.
When asked by the Kyiv Post what faction he is going to ally with, the 38-year-old billionaire Zhevago remained tight-lipped. He also promised not to skip plenary sessions this time. He did not vote for or against Azarov.
The solemnity of the event broke quickly — perhaps the moment that two members were pushed and shoved out of the session hall on Dec. 12. More fights and scuffles broke out later.
The MPs, Oleksandr Tabalov and his son, Andriy, were both elected as Batkivshchyna party representatives, but refused to join the party’s faction the day before the parliament was due to convene. The opposition interpreted this as treason and demanded they renounce their seats. Oleksandr Tabalov told reporters that he and his son “are not going (to join) any faction.” Andriy Tabalov, in one of his interviews to Ukrainian media, said they were “pressured” by the government.
There is no legal mechanism to force the two tushkas – the nickname for those who desert their party and join someone else’s – to give up their seats, though. So the opposition decided to apply psychological pressure, pinning their portraits to the podium, with the word “traitors” spelled out underneath.
Oleh Tiahnybok, leader of the Svoboda Party, called the dissension of two opposition members “a blow not only to Batkivshchyna, but to all of the opposition.” Perhaps, to compensate, his brother Andriy Tiahnybok and several accomplices used one of the many breaks to cut down a metal security fence surrounding the Rada. Then they broke a door to get back into the building because it was blocked by a special police unit.
Andriy Tiahnybok was elected to parliament in a single-mandate constituency in Lviv Oblast. Like all lawmakers he enjoys immunity from criminal prosecution.
Svoboda continued to make trouble the next day, scuffling with the ruling Party of Regions, whose lawmakers were breaking the law requiring each member to vote in person. Eventually, the brawls subsided and the parliament was able to elect Communist Party member Ihor Kaletnik, a former head of the Customs Service, as first vice speaker. Svoboda’s Ruslan Koshulynsky got the other vice speaker’s seat.
The parliament is scheduled to reconvene on Dec. 18. And in the meantime, Ukrainians are stocking up on popcorn in anticipation of coming attractions.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected]
