Former Ukrainian president Poroshenko says vote for new PM is unconstitutional

Petro Poroshenko, leader of the European Solidarity party and Ukraine’s fifth president, has declared during a Verkhovna Rada (parliamentary) debate on the prime minister’s candidacy that the vote is unconstitutional due to the effective absence of a Servant of the People coalition.

Source: Poroshenko, cited by the European Solidarity press service

Quote from Poroshenko: "At the moment the monomajority coalition of 231 MPs is fake. Some of them are abroad hiding from the anti-corruption authorities, some of them definitely do not support the candidacy of the prime minister and are not members of the coalition."

Details: Poroshenko noted that in 2019, during Volodymyr Zelenskyy's first week as president, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) opened a criminal case at Andrii Portnov's request due to the apparent lack of a coalition when the prime minister [Volodymyr Groysman] was appointed in 2016. "This case was considered by the current members of the SBI for many years," Poroshenko added.

"I believe that we should not violate the Constitution," Poroshenko said. "And as for Ms Yuliia’s [Svyrydenko’s – ed.] wishes: the Druzhba oil pipeline; lifting the ban on leaving the country; the announcement of the selection process for the State Bureau of Investigation and the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine; her position on banning Telegram, her positions on building fortifications; her positions on the fundamentals, on moving the economy to a war footing – here we are allies," he emphasised.

European Solidarity highlighted that during the vote for Yuliia Svyrydenko’s candidacy as prime minister, the monomajority Servant of the People faction provided 201 votes, falling short of the required 226.

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