KYIV – Newly elected President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested he won’t necessarily pursue early parliamentary elections after getting sworn in later this month. His comment came following a May 7 meeting with European Union Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn in Kyiv.
His press service cited Mr. Zelensky on the need for a new election law that implied he wants to have 450 seats in the legislature elected solely on open party lists.
Currently, half the legislature is filled via single-mandate constituencies that watchdogs and advocacy groups say leads to rampant vote buying and corruption. The existing electoral system has another 225 seats allocated proportionally to lists of candidates from political parties and electoral blocs that cross the 5-percent threshold. Bribery is also suspected, whereby unlisted candidates pay to get on party lists to enjoy the benefits of being a lawmaker while their names remain hidden (only the first five names from each list appear on the ballot) and gain immunity from prosecution once they’re elected.
Earlier, the incoming president insisted, in a Facebook post that included a letter he had sent to Verkhovna Rada Chair Andriy Parubiy, that his inauguration should take place on May 19. That would afford him time to dismiss Parliament and call for pre-term elections to avoid a lame-duck period for his legislative initiatives, which include eliminating immunity for certain categories of elected officials, enacting a presidential impeachment law and getting a prime minister approved for a new government. Regular parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 27.
The uncertainty surrounding the political maneuvering means Ukraine might see a delay in getting its second installment from an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan this summer, Ukraine Business News reported, citing JP Morgan and the Swiss investment bank UBS.
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President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky after meeting with European Commissioner for European Union Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Johannes Hahn in Kyiv on May 7.
Kyiv got the first tranche of $1.4 billion as part of a new $3.9 billion stand-by arrangement in December 2018. “Both Zelensky and most politicians are likely to call for populist measures rather than IMF-required reforms,” JP Morgan economists Nicolaie Alexandru and Trang Nguyen wrote in a note.
An additional $1.4 billion is slated to be released later this year.
Given that fact that he won nearly three-quarters of the April 21 run-off vote, EU Commissioner Hahn said in a May 7 tweet that strong mandate should allow him “to fight against corruption and for ‘de-oligarchization.’ ” He was referring to vested interests that still control huge swaths of the economy and exert disproportionate political influence.
He urged Mr. Zelensky to make Brussels the destination of his first foreign trip and said the EU is ready to assist Kyiv in gas talks with Russia.
For his part, President-elect Zelensky said his administration’s priorities are “to defeat corruption rather than fight it” and to reduce monopolies in the opaque energy industry while emphasizing that there is no alternative to EU integration in foreign policy.
Specifically, his corruption-defeating measures include restoring the law on illegal enrichment of officials that was ruled unconstitutional just days before the presidential election.
In a statement after his meeting with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland in Kyiv on May 8, Mr. Zelensky said that to reduce graft he wants to ensure that the public directly engages with officials as little as possible in a statement. “Our goal is a state in a smartphone,” he said.
Ms. Freeland added that she looks forward to hosting the newly elected president in Toronto during the July 5 Ukraine reform conference and will support the country’s efforts to find peace in the Moscow-instigated Donbas war that is in its sixth year and has killed over 13,000 people.
Meanwhile, two of Mr. Zelensky’s advisers met with the 28 European Union ambassadors in Brussels on May 2. Former Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk and Ruslan Riaboshapka, who advises on law enforcement and anti-graft policies, spoke about maintaining sanctions against Russia for its military aggression towards Ukraine and renewing peace talks that have stalled.
Leaders of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic, Muslim and Jewish communities also met with the newly elected president. The overarching theme is to maintain national unity and seek more effective dialogue with residents of the Russian-occupied territories in Crimea and the Donbas, according to Mr. Zelensky’s statements.
Following his meetings with Ukrainian Orthodox leaders the previous week, Mr. Zelensky spoke with three Muslim leaders on May 2: Akhmed Tamim, Said Ismahilov and Aider Rustemov, all of whom carry the title of mufti.
Noting that there are 2 million Muslims in Ukraine, Mr. Zelensky’s statement said that the “participants of the meeting confirmed their readiness to support the newly elected president’s initiatives that are orientated on the consolidation of society.”
On May 6, the president-elect met with the Council of Rabbis of Ukraine to discuss similar matters.
“Currently at least 500,000 Jews reside in Ukraine, for whom it is their homeland and which we love,” said Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky. “There are no contradictions of being a Jew and a true patriot of Ukraine.”
Speaking to Jewish News website, the rabbi said he found Mr. Zelensky to be genuinely interested in issues on a deep level.
“In the role of president I was astounded that he wants to understand all issues at their core… that is, he doesn’t take a shallow approach,” Rabbi Kaminetsky said. “Volodymyr [Zelensky] took notes, showed interest, and he wouldn’t move on to the next topic until he wrapped his brain around an issue.”
Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church Patriarch Sviatoslav met with Mr. Zelensky on the same day. The two discussed “the importance of the Ukrainian World Congress and Ukrainian diaspora to support our country in the world as well as the need for an appropriate response to the challenges of [Russia’s] hybrid war,” according to the president-elect’s press service.
The emigration of young people from Ukraine and the role of the Church in providing spiritual care to immigrants abroad and supporting their ties with their homeland were also discussed.
Armed forces leadership changes
Outgoing President Petro Poroshenko replaced the on-the-ground military commander in the Donbas and changed the National Guard leader.
Acting on the recommendation of the Defense Ministry to rotate the Joint Forces Operation head every year, the president on May 6 appointed Lt.-Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, who led 4,500 troops during the disastrous Debaltseve battle in January-February 2015. He is credited with withdrawing army units from the entrapped wedge of territory and was awarded the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, III degree.
The following day, Col.-Gen. Yuriy Allerov was dismissed as the National Guard commander, a post he has held since December 30, 2015. Lt.-Gen. Mykola Balan was appointed acting chief in his place.
It remains unclear when President Poroshenko’s last day in office will actually be, as the date of Mr. Zelensky’s inauguration has yet to be set by Parliament. National deputies are expected to consider the inauguration date when the Verkhovna Rada resumes its session on May 14.