Rock singer and former leader of 20-member Golos (Voice) faction Sviatoslav Vakarchuk is now officially leaving the parliament — for the second time.
The Voice has stripped Vakarchuk of his parliament seat at the extraordinary party congress on June 26.
Vakarchuk announced his decision to step down as a lawmaker on June 11. However, the parliament, or Verkhovna Rada, didn’t have enough votes to support his request on June 18.
To proceed with his decision, Vakarchuk quit the party faction, which allowed his party to strip him of the mandate.
“I thank the congress delegates for respecting my decision,” Vakarchuk wrote on Facebook on June 26.
This is the second time the politician and frontman of the popular rock band Okean Elzy steps down as a lawmaker. The first time Vakarchuk quit Verkhovna Rada was in 2008, when he got disappointed after nine months as a lawmaker for the party of then-President Viktor Yushchenko.
The lawmaker’s second try at the parliament lasted about a week less than the first time. That time, it took the parliament about three months to approve his resignation.
Vakarchuk’s parliamentary seat will be taken by a 31-year-old lawyer and human rights activist Alina Sviderska, who was next on the party’s ballot.
Vakarchuk said that in this convocation, he fulfilled his goal of bringing young blood to Verkhovna Rada. He will now focus on an unspecified educational project targeting young leaders. He will presumably continue his music career.
“I thank each member of the Voice faction for creating such a team in parliament. Keep it up,” Vakarchuk’s Facebook post reads.
The rock star brought Voice to parliament at the early 2019 parliamentary elections. The party received 5.82% of the vote and won three single-constituency races – acquiring 20 seats out of 423 in total.
Vakarchuk has been a respectable opinion maker in Ukraine for years. His public statements on reforms provoked rumors that he would run for president in 2019, but he didn’t.
The lawmaker isn’t planning to leave Voice.
“I will continue to be a member of the party as long as I benefit the party, and as long as the party contributes to the European development of the country,” Vakarchuk said at the congress.
Vakarchuk had stepped down as leader of his party on March 11. Kira Rudyk, who used to be the CEO of Ring Ukraine, a smart-home company owned by Amazon, took over the leadership.
