KIEV, April 25. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Central Election Commission (CEC) is delaying the announcement of the presidential election’s results to prevent the new president from dissolving the parliament, president-elect Vladimir Zelensky said in a video address on Facebook on Thursday.
"Very funny things are happening: the CEC is delaying the official announcement of the results. Why? So that the Verkhovna Rada can delay the inauguration until after May 27 and the president doesn’t have an opportunity to dissolve the Rada," Zelensky said.
He added that "it is unfair." "A president that has the support of 73% of voters should have the right to at least consider it [dissolving the parliament - TASS] and the right to do it," he said. "The system is afraid. We will defeat them all!" he concluded.
Parliament’s dissolution options
According to Ukrainian laws, the president does not have the right to dissolve the parliament less than six months before its term expires. The current Verkhovna Rada’s term expires one months after the next election scheduled to take place on October 27, which means that the president can dissolve the Rada on May 27 at the latest. In addition, the president needs a legally sound reason to dissolve the parliament.
One of the legal options is that the Rada can just fail to hold a plenary session for 30 days due to a lack of quorum (226 lawmakers). Zelensky’s team could try to make agreements with those Rada members who are ready for an early election, but those who are afraid of not being re-elected may oppose such a plan.
The lack of a ruling majority in the Rada could be another reason for dissolving the parliament. A coalition was formed in 2014 to serve President Pyotr Poroshenko’s needs but it has since lost many of its members. In response to numerous requests to publish a list of the coalition’s members, Rada Speaker Andrei Parubiy said it was unnecessary. If a newly elected president finds out there are less than 226 signatures in the coalition agreement, he may call an early election.