The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Lytvyn upholds the idea of amending legislation in the part of ensuring personal voting of each people’s deputy.
Answering journalists’ questions after the meeting of the Conciliatory Council on Monday, V.Lytvyn informed that the bill to amend Rules of Procedure is registered in the parliamentary secretariat and is submitted to the Committee on Rules of Parliamentary Procedure, Ethics and Support to Work of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Thereat, the Chairman of the Parliament reminded that in due time he suggested adopting the respective changes, but his initiative was not upheld.
“I believe that such a decision should be adopted and all the talks should be stopped,” V.Lytvyn said. “After that we should get down to the practical stage of realizing such law, so that each deputy would agitate for the necessity and obligatoriness of personal voting by his/her own example and action,” he added.
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada did not exclude the possibility that this issue will, apparently, be discussed during today’s meeting of Preparatory Deputy Group. He reminded, however, that the Group includes a subgroup mandated with examining this problem and making respective suggestions.
At the same time, answering journalists’ questions V.Lytvyn doubted that such a bill would be upheld in the session hall. “Almost 300 deputies leave the Verkhovna Rada and most probably they will act according to the principle: the decision should be adopted by the new composition of the Parliament,” he explained. V.Lytvyn anticipates that even factions who submitted the bill will not vote for it in full.
“We resemble a noncommissioned officer's widow suggesting such a draft law, since there is the respective constitutional requirement. We need to reach at least understanding that we should not search for exceptions, excuses and reasons not to fulfill the constitutional requirement,” V.Lytvyn noted. “Otherwise, we will come to adopting the law for each article of the Constitution,” he added. The Chairman of the Parliament reminded that the Constitution clearly determines which norms of the Main law should be implemented in the form of laws, noting that article 84 is not on this list. “The article clearly reads: each deputy votes in person,” he said.