MOSCOW, September 5. /TASS/. The Ukrainians do not want to tolerate the incumbent authorities anymore and that is why more and more local and regional deputies come up with initiatives to adopt a long overdue law on the procedure of impeachment, Vladimir Oleinik, a former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada national parliament told TASS on Monday.
Oleinik, who is a member of the Committee for Salvation of Ukraine, said it in a comment on a petition by the city hall in Belaya Tserkov, Kiev region, to the Verkhovna Rada asking it to codify the procedure of dismissal of the head of state from office.
"The demand for impeachment is a demand on the part of the entire nation," Oleinik said. "That’s a verdict issued by the whole of Ukrainian society because people are unable to tolerate this kind of power anymore."
He cited the returns from a most recent opinion poll taken by the Sophia opinion research center that showed President Pyotr Poroshenko’s popularity ranking at around 2.0%, Prime Minister Vladimir Groysman’s ranking at 1.7% at the very best, and parliament speaker Andrey Parubiy’s ranking at 1.2%
"Given this level of support from the population, it’s only too logical there’s a need to change state power, not the people," Oleinik said.
He recalled that the deputies in Belaya Tserkov were not the first ones who had made a decision to petition to the Rada.
"The initiatives of adopt a law on the procedure of impeachment were made previously by the Kiev regional council, the Cherkassy regional council and the Cherkassy city hall," Oleinik said.
"The authorities fear these moods and take repressive measures against who disagree with them," he said. "That’s why the Kiev regional deputies started getting a flow of threats of physical reprisals after their appeal to the Rada and pressure on their family members and relatives began."
Oleinik predicted a very turbulent political autumn in Ukraine.
"Prices in Ukraine keep growing and not only because we had a poor harvest this year," he said. "That’s why Poroshenko is afraid of people’s rancor."
"Yet there’s the need for a law spelling out a civilized procedure to eliminate the puzzling incident where the Ukrainian people got too shortsighted and believed lies," Oleinik said. "Just recall Poroshenko didn’t fulfill any of his election promises. The war in Donbass is dragging on. Improvements have occurred only in Poroshenko’s own life and the economy is down and out."
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov, who is also a member of the Committee for Salvation of Ukraine, expressed an opinion much along the same lines.
"About ten regional councils have already submitted their demands to the Vekhovna Rada to codify the very procedure of dismissing the head of state from the post," Azarov said.
"This proves people are already boiling," he indicated. "Latest opinion polls show only 1.5% of those polled are satisfied with the way he performs his duties.
Azarov recalled in one of the previous interviews the requirement to adopt a law on impeachment was entered in the Constitution of Ukraine endorsed back in 1996. Now it has become particularly pressing, as Poroshenko is losing trust with the people across the whole country, even in its western regions.
The city hall in Belaya Tserkov issued an appeal to the Vekhovna Rada last week to codify the impeachment procedure. As many as 23 deputies voted for the decision to impeach the President.
One of the elements of the codification is a law on provisional investigation commissions, a special investigation commission and a provisional investigation commission in the Verkhovna Rada. The same legislative initiative requires changes in the Rada’s code of rules.