Ukraine’s new parliament started its work on Aug. 29. The 424 new lawmakers were sworn in during a ceremonial session of the Verkhovna Rada.
The parliament is led by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, which won an unprecedented 254 seats in July 21 election. Zelensky and Cabinet members were present at the ceremony.
The previous Cabinet officially resigned during the first parliament session.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko submitted a letter of resignation as well. Lutsenko has a questionable reputation, being previously accused, by civic watchdogs, of stalling investigations.
Many photographers and journalists who were accredited for the ceremonial part, were not permitted on the parliament’s balcony.
Andriy Parubiy, the speaker of the previous parliament, chaired the ceremonial session. Yuliy Ioffe, 78, of the pro-Russian Opposition Platform — For Life party read out the oath of service as the oldest lawmaker in the parliament. This is the ninth convocation of the Ukrainian parliament.
After a two-hour break, Dmytro Razumkov, Servant of the People party leader, who chaired the parliament’s preparatory committee, began the official parliament session.
Six parliamentary factions were formed during the first session. The Servant of the People party formed a 254 member faction led by lawmaker David Arakhamia. 44 lawmakers entered Opposition Platform – For Life faction led by lawmakers Yuriy Boyko and Vadym Rabynovych, European Solidarity created a 27 member faction, while Batkivshchyna party faction has 25 members.
The Voice party faction has 17 members, while 23 independent lawmakers created a parliament faction – For the Future.
Razumkov became the parliament’s chair. His candidacy was supported by 382 lawmakers. Ruslan Stefanchuk, from the Servant of the People party, was voted first deputy chair, while Elena Kondratyuk from Batkivshchyna faction was voted deputy chair.
The parliament also supported with a 299 votes in favor, the appointment of heads of the parliament committees. According to the arrangement, Servant of the People will chair 19 committees, while four committees will go to the opposition. Most notably, Nestor Shufrych, from the pro-Russian Opposition Platform – For Life party, will chair the freedom of speech committee.
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The party’s representatives said they also plan to pass a large package of legislation on the first day.
