People’s Front pulls out of ruling coalition, blocks parliament dissolution (UPDATED)

Political party People’s Front has pulled out of the parliamentary coalition with Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc. Leader of People’s Front faction Maksym Burbak announced it on May 17.

Now the parliament has 30 days to form a new coalition.

“The old coalition completed its task,” said Burbak. “According to the Constitution, a new coalition will be formed in the parliament. That’s why the parliament will work until the next election on Oct. 27. The government and prime minister continue working until the new convocation of lawmakers is elected.”

The collapse of the ruling coalition has been widely viewed as a move to prevent the incoming president Volodymyr Zelenskiy from dissolving the parliament and calling for an early parliamentary vote, as he intended to do. Zelenskiy will be sworn-in on May 20. 

Zelenskiy’s team responded that this coalition effectively didn’t exist as its legitimacy has always been doubted.

Deadline for dissolution

According to the Constitution, the president may disperse the parliament if it doesn’t form a coalition within 30 days.

But he can’t do it within the last six months of parliament’s service.

Some lawyers and media outlets have claimed the deadline for dissolution is May 27, using as a reference point the date when the current parliament took on its duties — Nov. 27, 2014.

However, it is hard to define the legal deadline because it’s impossible to know the exact date when the parliament’s service ends. 

The parliament’s service ends only when the new convocation of MPs holds its first session. But there is no way to predict when exactly it will happen. The law allows a total of 50 days to pass from Election Day until the first session of newly-elected MPs.

It means the new parliament may take on its duties as late as December. This gives the president time to dissolve the parliament until June 16, reckons political expert Oleg Petrovets.

June 16 is also the last day for the parliament to form a coalition.

“That way, there are almost no chances on calling for early election. And now it becomes clear why People’s Front made its decision on May 17,” he wrote in an op-ed.

However, there is a way, Petrovets suggests. And Zelenskiy still can dissolve the parliament saying that People’s Front left the non-existent coalition.

Ruling coalition

Zelenskiy’s team appears to think the same.

“Coalition doesn’t exist therefore it’s impossible to leave it,” Vadym Halaichuk, chief lawyer of Zelenskiy’s team, told the Kyiv Post. When asked whether Zelenskiy plans to dissolve the parliament after all, he said he couldn’t reveal it. 

The legitimacy of the coalition of People’s Front and Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc has been questioned ever since it was formed in spring 2016.

After the break-up of the broader coalition of Poroshenko’s Bloc, People’s Front, Batkivshchyna, Samopomich, and Radical Party, the two largest factions managed to form a new one and avoid snap election.

Civil organizations demanded from the coalition to publish a list of lawmakers. It was unclear how the two parties could gather a minimum of 226 lawmakers required for a coalition. At the time, Poroshenko’s Bloc had 138 seats at that time, and People’s Front had 81 seats – a total of 219. They allegedly drew some independent lawmakers to reach the required number, yet that was never proved since the list of the members of the coalition never got published.