The ruling Servant of the People faction has collected over 150 lawmakers’ signatures for the ouster of the parliamentary speaker Dmytro Razumkov on Oct. 2. This is enough to put the issue to vote in parliament.
“I was the 49th. But over 150 signatures have been collected already. This process will end soon,” Servant of the People lawmaker Oleksiy Ustenko told the media at the party’s convention on Oct. 2.
The party’s press secretary, Yulia Paliychuk, soon confirmed that 150 signatures have been collected to register a draft resolution for Razumkov’s dismissal at the party’s convention in Truskavets, a resort town of 30,000 people 590 kilometers west of Kyiv. Razumkov, a founding member of the party, was not invited.
Another founding member, President Volodymyr Zelensky, told the media at the convention that Razumkov’s dismissal is an “internal faction issue.” He said that any member of the faction should be dismissed if they have views different from those of over 200 other members and from 73% of Ukrainians who voted for the party’s program.
“If a person doesn’t support the fight against the oligarchs, … the sanction policy against (Viktor) Medvedchuk, for example, then I think these people have different political views,” Zelensky told the media.
Several Servant of the People lawmakers told the Kyiv Post at the convention that Razumkov is “not a team player.”
The day before the convention, Razumkov said it is “indecent” to discuss his dismissal “behind his back” at the party’s “gala night.” He invited his colleagues to a faction meeting on Oct. 4 to answer all questions and claims.
“I am ready to discuss any issues, ready to answer for each of my actions,” Razumkov said at the Savik Shuster’s Svoboda Slova political talk show.
Razumkov has seemingly been the only top official who publicly disagrees with Zelensky and his 244-member governing party. Pro-government lawmakers accuse him of playing to oligarchs’ interests, especially after he refused to support Zelensky’s anti-oligarch bill.
Razumkov denies all accusations and says he puts his job as speaker before party affiliation. He criticized the anti-oligarch bill and publicly disagreed with Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov, who said that oligarch influence in parliament is “extremely high.”
Razumkov was also the only National Security and Defense Council member who didn’t support sanctions against the pro-Kremlin TV channels linked to oligarch lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk. He abstained from supporting the Zelensky-led council’s decision to impose sanctions on Ukrainian citizens.
“For all media, there should be a uniform approach,” said Razumkov when defending his decision to abstain from voting on introducing sanctions against the pro-Kremlin propaganda channels.
David Arakhamia, the Servant of the People faction head, launched an official vote collection for Razumkov’s ouster on Sept. 30. Razumkov said he’s not planning to resign.
According to the parliament procedure, to register a draft resolution for the speaker’s dismissal, 150 lawmakers have to sign it. After that, a simple majority of lawmakers have to vote in favor at the parliament hearing. There are currently 422 lawmakers in the Verkhovna Rada.
A lawmaker from the Servant of the People’s leadership told LB media that “there will be 240 votes” for Razumkov’s dismissal.
Kyiv Post staff writer Thaisa Semenova contributed reporting.
