Ukrainian Parliament will work in shelter during air-raid warnings – photos

Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) sessions are planned to continue in a shelter during air-raid warnings. Workstations for members of parliament have been set up in the basement, in the parliamentary conference hall and adjacent corridors.

Source: a statement by Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk at a meeting with journalists, attended by an Ukrainska Pravda correspondent

Details: The Rada's administrative office has been developing a voting system outside the session hall since the beginning of the full-scale war, but there had been no need to use it until now, Stefanchuk noted. Given the increase in Russian attacks, MPs will be offered the option of continuing to work in the shelter.

Quote: "I want to immediately dispel some myths. People say that MPs will vote from unknown locations using unclear methods. The Rada's rules of procedure provide for two types of voting: using the electronic system and by show of hands. Voting by hand is not an option, because consideration of each document would take an indefinite amount of time. Therefore, we have developed an alternative electronic voting mechanism to preserve all procedural rules."

Details: Stefanchuk recalled the main provisions of the parliamentary rules of procedure. First, sessions must be held exclusively in the Rada building. Second, MPs may vote only in person.

The speaker stressed that "everything possible" has been done to ensure that every parliamentarian can vote in person in the shelter using the electronic system.

Currently, 368 workstations for MPs have been set up in the conference hall and adjacent corridors. As of 1 September, there are 392 MPs in the Rada. "We based our planning on maximum attendance during recent sessions. But we will find a way to accommodate the full composition of parliament in the shelter if necessary," Stefanchuk clarified.

After an air-raid warning is issued, MPs will have approximately 10 minutes to descend to the shelter and continue voting. After the all-clear is given, parliamentarians will return to work in the session hall. An online broadcast of the session from the shelter will be provided.

Viacheslav Shtuchnyi, head of the Rada's administrative office, explained that electronic voting will be carried out using QR codes placed on MPs' personal voting cards.

"For voting in the shelter, each MP's voting card will have a QR code that can be used to access the network. This is a closed network defined by the perimeter. If an MP leaves these boundaries, the connection will be lost and it will be impossible to continue voting. Since the card is personal, no one else will be able to access the system using that code," Shtuchnyi explained.

MPs will be able to vote using either their personal phones or work tablets.

The parliament speaker stressed that parliamentarians will test the new system over the coming week. A draft resolution will subsequently be adopted to formalise the mechanism.

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