8th Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada

Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the 8th convocation
← 7th Verkhovna Rada
Seat composition of the 8th Verkhovna Rada
Overview
Meeting place	Verkhovna Rada building
Term	27 November 2014 (2014-11-27) –
Election	2014 parliamentary election
Government	28 committees
Website	iportal.rada.gov.ua
Members	421 / 450 (since December 9, 2014)
Chairman	Volodymyr Groysman (from Petro Poroshenko Bloc)
First Deputy	Andriy Parubiy (from People's Front)
Deputy	Oksana Syroyid (from Self Reliance)
Party control	No overall control, Coalition dissolved on 19.02.16
Sessions
1st 27 November 2014 – 3 February 2015[1] 2nd 3 February 2015 – 17 July 2015[2]

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the 8th convocation (Ukrainian: Верховна Рада України VIII скликання, Verkhovna Rada Ukrayiny VIII sklykannia) is the current convocation of the legislative branch of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's unicameral parliament. The 8th convocation meets at the Verkhovna Rada building in Kiev, having begun its term on November 27, 2014 following the last session of the 7th Verkhovna Rada. Its term will last five years and is scheduled to close its last session on November 27, 2019.

The 8th Verkhovna Rada's composition was based upon the results of the October 26, 2014 parliamentary election,^[3] which was contested eight months after the 2014 Ukrainian revolution which saw the overthrow of the Yanukovych regime. Ukraine's head of state during the parliament's term is President Petro Poroshenko. Eleven parties are represented in the Verkhovna Rada, although only six of them surpassed the mandatory 5 percent electoral threshold to gain representation based upon the proportional representation system.

On the first day of the parliament's session, five of the parliament's pro-European parties, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, People's Front, Self Reliance, Fatherland, and Radical Party, signed a coalition agreement. Per the coalition agreement, the current convocation of parliament will be tasked with passing major reforms to ensure Ukrainian membership in European institutions such as the European Union and NATO, while dealing with the threat of further Russian aggression in the Donbass.

Post-election developments

Results of the 2014 election per electoral district. "Pro-Ukrainian" parties are represented in yellow.

Further information: Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2014 in the section titled Background.

Prior to the parliament's official swearing-in ceremony, Volodymyr Groisman was the chairman of the parliament's preparatory deputy group, with Oksana Syroyid as deputy, and Pavlo Pynzenyk as the secretary.^[4] Two deputies, Vitali Klitschko, and Ihor Palytsia rejected their parliamentary mandates to remain in office as Mayor of Kiev and Governor of Odessa Oblast, respectfully.^[5] Meanwhile, the parliament's preparatory deputy group adopted a resolution which accepted Nadiya Savchenko's handwritten letter stating that she accepted her parliamentary mandate. Savchenko is currently held captive by the Russian government, after being abducted during the pro-Russian unrest.^[6]

A total of 27 constituencies were not elected due to various events taking place in the country. A total of 10 constituencies in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and two in the City of Sevastopol were not elected due to the 2014 Crimean crisis and subsequent annexation of Crimea by Russia, while a further nine constituencies in Donetsk Oblast and six constituencies in Luhansk Oblast were not elected due to the ongoing War in Donbass. Elections in these regions can only take place after the re-introduction of Ukrainian control over these territories.

Major legislation

• November 27, 2014: Arseniy Yatsenyuk is confirmed as Prime Minister for a second term with 341 votes in favor.^[7][8]
• December 2, 2014: The second Yatsenyuk Government is approved with 288 votes in favor.^[9]
• December 23, 2014: Ukraine's status as that of a neutral non-aligned country, one of the coalition's key points of action, is removed with 303 votes in favor.^[10]
• December 25, 2014: The National Security and Defense Council's jurisdiction and authority is expanded with 316 votes in favor.^[11]
• December 29, 2014: Along with a collection of other economic policy laws, the 2015 Ukraine budget is approved with 233 votes in favor.^[12]

Leadership

On November 27, 2014, the parliament elected Volodymyr Groysman from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc as the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada.^[13] The parliament's chairman, first deputy chairman, and deputy chairman are all unaffiliated people's deputies according to parliamentary procedure. Oksana Syroyid is the first woman to ever hold a deputy chairman position in the Verkhovna Rada.^[14]

Volodymyr Groysman (from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc) is the current Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk (from the People's Front) was re-appointed as Prime Minister with 341 votes.

Members

Location of parliamentary factions in the 8th Verkhovna Rada:

– Poroshenko Bloc   – People's Front   – Opposition Bloc

– Self Reliance   – Radical Party   – People's Will

– Fatherland   – Revival   – Unaffiliated

Since November 28, 2014, the 8th Verkhovna Rada consists of a total of 420 people's deputies, which belong to one of six political party factions, two parliamentary groups, or the 38 unaffiliated people's deputies.^[17] For the first time in Ukrainian history, the Communist Party has failed to gain representation in the Verkhovna Rada.^[18]

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR), which had 40 seats in the previous parliament's convocation, did not participate in the election independently. For the 2014 parliamentary election, UDAR merged their electoral lists with that of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, being allocated 30 percent of bloc's electoral list.^[19]

A large portion of the 8th Verkhovna Rada are freshmen people's deputies who did not have any prior legislative service.^[20] This convocation of parliament also has the largest representation of women in the Ukrainian parliament for the first time in history. While the women participation rate in parliament is lower than the 25.3 percent average of the OSCE member states,^[21] 49 of the deputies in parliament are women (approximately 12 percent).^[20]

Out of the newly elected deputies, 410 of them possess an academic degree; a further 144 deputies possess two or more such degrees.^[20] Fifty-four deputies are currently candidates for doctoral sciences, while 27 of them already possess a doctoral degree.^[20] The oldest member of parliament is the Opposition Bloc's Yukhym Zvyahilsky, who was elected from a constituency seat in northern Donetsk.

Parliamentary factions and deputy groups summary

	(Shading indicates majority caucus)									Total	Vacant
	Petro Poroshenko Bloc	People's Front	Opposition Bloc	Self Reliance	Radical Party	Fatherland	Revival[a 1]	People's Will[a 2][a 3]	Non-affiliated[a 4]
End of previous convocation	DNP[a 5]	DNP[a 7]	DNP	1	86	41	35	93	445	5
Seats won in 2014 election[22]	132	82	29	33	22	19	DNP	DNP	96	423	27
November 27, 2014 (first session)[29][26]	145	83	40	32			19	20	38	418	32
December 2, 2014[30][26]	147									420	30
February 5, 2015[26]	150	82		31	21			18	42	422	28
June 24, 2015[26]	144	81	43				22	19		422	28
October 22, 2015[26]	142			26				20	48	422	28
February 13, 2016[26]	136						23		53	422	28
April 11, 2016[26]	141								47	422	28
April 12, 2016[26]	145[a 8]							19	44	422	28
July 19, 2016[26]	142								42	422	28
September 21, 2016[26]	143					21			46	422	28
Latest voting share	7001339000000000000♠33.9%	7001192000000000000♠19.2%	7001102009999900000♠10.2%	7000620000000000000♠6.2%	7000500000000000000♠5.0%	7000500000000000000♠5.0%	7000550000000000000♠5.5%	7000450000000000000♠4.5%	7001109000000000000♠10.9%	7001938000000000000♠93.8%	7000620000000000000♠6.2%
↑ Revival was briefly called Economic Development in 2014. It was also a parliamentary group like People's Will until 2015. ↑ People's Will is a parliamentary group. Parliamentary groups consist of non-partisan deputies or representatives of parties that did not overcome election threshold (i.e. Svoboda, Strong Ukraine, etc.). ↑ The People's Will deputy group in previous convocation was known as Sovereign European Ukraine. ↑ Parties that did not pass the 5% threshold of the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, Svoboda (7 seats), Right Sector (1 seat), Strong Ukraine (1 seat), Volia (1 seat), and Zastup (1 seat) are part of non-affiliated.[22] After the 17 July 2016 constituency mid-term elections the parties UKROP and Our Land joined them.[23] ↑ 30% of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc election list was filled by members of the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR), which did not participate in the 2014 election independently. UDAR participated in the 2012 election, consisting of a faction of 41 deputies in the previous convocation.[24][25][26]</ref> e DNP[a 6] ↑ People's Front is a September 2014 split off from Fatherland; many current members of the People's Front were members of the Fatherland faction of the previous convocation.[27]<ref name='People's Front is not so new'>Ukraine's united opposition discussing formation of single party, Kyiv Post (7 December 2012)(subscription required) Five factions, including Communist Party, registered in parliament, Kyiv Post (12 December 2012)(subscription required) Sobolev: Front for Change and Reform and Order Party to join Batkivschyna, Interfax-Ukraine (11 June 2013) Front for Change, Reforms and Order to dissolve for merger with Batkivshchyna - Sobolev, Ukrinform (11 June 2013) (Ukrainian) Sobolev heads "Batkivshchyna" in the Rada, Televiziyna Sluzhba Novyn (20 March 2014) "Turchynov is summoned for interrogation to SBU today – BYUT". UNIAN. 20 September 2010. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2010.  "Batkivschyna to nominate Tymoshenko for presidency, Yatseniuk heads party's political council". Kyiv Post. Interfax-Ukraine. 14 June 2013. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2013.  "BYT-Batkivschyna replaces its leader". Kyiv Post. Interfax-Ukraine. 7 December 2011. Archived from the original on 7 December 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.  ↑ The Opposition Bloc consists mainly of former members of former President Yanukovych's Party of Regions,[28] which formed the largest caucus after the 2012 election with 185 deputies, although after the removal of Yanukovych and the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, the caucus consisted of only 78 members. ↑ The addition of these four deputies made it possible for Petro Poroshenko Bloc and People's Front to form a government without additional parties.[31]

Coalition

On November 21, 2014, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, People's Front, Self Reliance, Fatherland, and Radical Party signed a coalition agreement.^[32] The coalition consists of a total of 302 deputies, which is more than the constitutional majority required by the constitution. The coalition agreement prioritized on a number of key points, namely:^[33][34]

Meanwhile, the parliamentary opposition consists of the Opposition Bloc faction, People's Will, and Revival. The Opposition Bloc represents politicians from the Party of Regions, which formed the Second Azarov Government and the majority caucus in parliament after the 2012 elections.

Committees

On December 4, 2014, the Verkhovna Rada approved the composition of its 27 committees and one special control commission.^[35][36] On December 11, 2014, parliament voted in favor of recalling all of the deputies who voted for the January 16th "dictatorship laws" of the previous convocation from their positions in committee leadership. Deputy Chairman Oksana Syroyid proposed this measure, which was adopted with 264 votes in favor.^[37]

Calls for reform

On December 11, 2014, the Yatsenyuk Government presented its course of action for the following year. It was proposed that the number of deputies in parliament be decreased to 150. According to estimates, adopting such a constitutional amendment would save ₴424 million annually (approx. US$26 million).^[38] As part of a separate reform effort, the governing coalition proposed removing parliamentary immunity for deputies.

In the Verkhovna Rada, impersonal voting (referred to as button pushing, from the Ukrainian: "кнопкодавство") has been a serious problem in parliament for many years. The deputies of the current convocation to vote impersonally have already been recognized less than a week into parliament's first session.^[39] Members of the nationalist Svoboda political party, which was elected into the parliament's previous convocation, proposed making deputies criminally liable for impersonal voting and banning them from holding any future parliamentary mandates.^[40] Members from the coalition's Petro Poroshenko Bloc have also recognized the need to ban impersonal voting.^[41][42]

References

External links

• "List of bills adopted at the first session of the VIII convocation". Official portal. Ukrainian: Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Retrieved December 1, 2014. 
• "Calendar of registered bills". Official portal. Ukrainian: Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Retrieved December 1, 2014. 

Verkhovna Rada
Main topics	Chairman list Presidium 1938-1996 People's Deputy of Ukraine Committees Accounting Chamber Ombudsman National Parliamentary Library Verkhovna Rada building
Members	Ukraine 1st members, 1990–94 2nd members, 1994–98 3rd members, 1998–2002 4th members, 2002–06 5th members, 2006–07 6th members, 2007–12 7th members, 2012–14 8th members, 2014–19 Ukainian SSR 1st members, 1938–1947 2nd members, 1947–1951 3rd members, 1951–1955 4th members, 1955–1959 5th members, 1959–1963 6th members, 1963–1967 7th members, 1967–1971 8th members, 1971–1975 9th members, 1975–1980 10th members, 1980–1985 11th members, 1985–1990
List of chairmen	Ukraine Ivan Plyushch Oleksandr Moroz Oleksandr Tkachenko Ivan Plyushch Volodymyr Lytvyn Oleksandr Moroz Arseniy Yatsenyuk Oleksandr Lavrynovych (acting) Volodymyr Lytvyn Volodymyr Rybak Oleksandr Turchynov Volodymyr Groysman Andriy Parubiy Ukrainian SSR Mykhailo Burmystenko Oleksandr Korniychuk Pavlo Tychyna Oleksandr Korniychuk Mykhailo Bilyi Kostiantyn Sytnyk Platon Kostiuk Volodymyr Ivashko Leonid Kravchuk Presidium Leonid Korniets Mykhailo Hrechukha Demyan Korotchenko Oleksandr Lyashko Ivan Hrushetsky Oleksiy Vatchenko Valentyna Shevchenko Volodymyr Ivashko Leonid Kravchuk Ivan Plyushch Oleksandr Moroz
Historic predecessors	Central Council of Ukraine All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets Central Executive Committee of Ukraine Ukrainian Constituent Assembly never realized) Labor Congress of Ukraine Soim Carpatho-Ukraine Ukrainian National Council Council of Republic
See also	Politics of Ukraine Political parties in Ukraine Elections in Ukraine