"The President can substitute the third part of the Government," Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, stated in the interview to the Hazeta po-kyivsky newspaper, asked about possible changes in the staffing of the government. "I think that the third part of the government members will be dismissed," M.Tomenko stated. He supposes that it will take place, "as soon as the Law on the Cabinet of Ministers is signed."
"The first reason of the President for the clean-ups in the Government is harmonization of the legislation with an old-new Constitution. The second reason is prevalence of competence over the quota principle," the Deputy Chairman believes. M.Tomenko predicts that the offices of the Deputy Prime Minister for Agriculture and the Deputy Prime Minister for Security, Defence and Law Enforcement will be abolished. The office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Regional Policy may also be abolished, as the issue of the administrative-territorial reform is not topical. However, Mykola Tomenko believes that the office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian and Social Matters could be restored.
M.Tomenko was asked about the possibility of re-electing the Parliament and the President. He responded that if the procedure of amending the Constitution is completed, then the parliamentary elections would be held on October 28, 2012, while the presidential elections on March 29, 2015, in compliance with the Verkhovna Rada resolution forwarded to the Constitutional Court to be analyzed as to its conformity with Clauses 157 and 158 of the Constitution of Ukraine. (On October 8, The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Resolution to forward the bill "On Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine" (re Regular Elections of the President of Ukraine, People´s Deputies of Ukraine, Deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea, Regional, District, City, Village and Township Councils, and City, Township and Village Mayors" to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine as to its Compliance with the Clauses 157 and 158 of the Constitution of Ukraine).