284 MPs Support Razumkov's Dismissal: Speaker's Address Before Vote, New Candidates and 'Coalition With Batkivshchyna'

Five candidates were nominated for the post of parliament speaker, and there was a curious incident.

On October 7, the Verkhovna Rada voted at a session to dismiss parliament speaker Dmytro Razumkov and appointed new candidates.

We detail the vote, what Razumkov said from the rostrum, and how the new candidates for the post of parliament head were chosen.

Razumkov's Speech and the Dismissal Vote

Before the dismissal vote, Razumkov accused the Servant of the People party of abandoning principles and pre-election promises.

According to Razumkov, he remembers how the eyes of people who joined Zelensky's team and supported it lit up.

Razumkov also said that people had a "blind faith" in Zelensky's team's ability to change the country. "Unfortunately, today in this hall I see different eyes, and people's eyes have changed too," Razumkov noted.

Dmytro Razumkov 
former speaker of the Verkhovna Rada

The principle of democracy and the rights of the people has become the principle of majority rule, the principle of the rule of law has been replaced by political expediency, and the principle of the right to one's own position and freedom of speech has been replaced by the principle "who is not with us is against us." <...>Parliament must remain an institution with its own subjectivity, otherwise this is the path to losing democracy, to usurpation of power and to the loss of parliamentarism.

The speaker thanked the Rada for its effective and constructive work over the past two years and expressed hope that "parliament will remain parliament, and people in it will remain people."

For its part, the head of the Servant of the People party scolded Razumkov during his speech, accusing him of supporting oligarchs and delaying the placement on the agenda of important bills.

284 MPs voted to dismiss Razumkov. Servant of the People, Batkivshchyna, For the Future and the Trust group voted for the dismissal.

Representatives of Batkivshchyna, the Opposition Platform — For Life and European Solidarity expressed confidence that they will see Razumkov as an independent politician in the next parliament convocation.

The Scandal With Batkivshchyna

Notably, in the vote, 20 of the 21 people's deputies of the Batkivshchyna faction voted for the speaker's dismissal, despite the fact that just a few days earlier they had firmly declared their support for Razumkov.

In connection with this, Razumkov stated that Batkivshchyna had allegedly entered into a coalition with the monomajority, the Servant of the People faction.

Dmytro Razumkov
non-factional MP, former speaker of the Verkhovna Rada

Such a vote indicates the formation of a coalition involving the "monomajority" and deputies from Batkivshchyna.

Batkivshchyna, for its part, called Razumkov's statement a lie.

"We do not take part in intrigues or in 'new coalitions'. And Dmytro Razumkov, who loudly declared our alleged participation in a new majority, knows perfectly well that this is not so. It is a pity that he is starting his independent political path with such primitive lies," the faction said in a statement.

The party itself insists on radical measures, seeking "immediate" early parliamentary elections, because this is allegedly the "only reasonable way out of this deadlock."

New Candidates

MPs nominated five candidates for the post of Verkhovna Rada chairman.

The list of candidates was announced by Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Yelena Kondratyuk, who chaired the session.

In particular, the following are claiming the post of parliament speaker:

• First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk (Servant of the People);
• MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak (Holos);
• MP Yana Zinkevych (European Solidarity);
• MP Oleksiy Honcharenko (European Solidarity);
• MP Geo Leros (non-factional).

A curious incident arose with the last two candidates.

MP Oleksiy Honcharenko of European Solidarity nominated the scandalous MP Geo Leros for the post of speaker during the session.

After this, Leros said: "I propose Oleksiy Honcharenko for the post of parliament speaker."