The Constitutional Court has ruled that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to dissolve parliament was constitutional, according to a Kyiv Post source and media reports.
The June 20 decision will legitimize the snap parliamentary elections scheduled for July 21.
Zelensky announced plans to dissolve the parliament during his inauguration speech in the Verkhovna Rada on May 20. He justified his decision on the formal absence of a parliamentary coalition. The Constitution gives the president the power to dissolve the legislature when there is no coalition.
But 62 lawmakers questioned this decision and appealed to the Constitutional Court, claiming that a coalition existed. That put the early elections at risk.
For a month, the country lived in limbo: would the July 21 vote be held or not? Now that answer is a resounding yes.
On June 20, the Court’s website announced that it had come to a decision on the 62 lawmakers’ motion. However, it did not reveal any details. The court’s press service wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Independent lawmaker Mustafa Nayyem reported on his Telegram channel that 11 judges voted in favor of the dissolution of parliament and five voted against it.
According to a poll by the Rating sociological group published on June 19, five political parties may pass the 5-percent threshold and have a chance to get into parliament.
They include Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, with more than 47-percent support; the pro-Russian Opposition Platform – For Life party, with 11 percent; the Voice party of rockstar Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, with over 8-percent support; former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna party, with 7.3 percent; and former President Petro Poroshenko’s party, European Solidarity, with 5 percent.
