More Wrangling In Parliament

Parliament was again unable to hold session this morning because of the continuing blockade by the opposition, who are insisting that the speaker be elected by secret ballot. The majority has proposed that the speaker and prime minister be elected in a single, open vote, in order to guarantee coalition discipline. Meanwhile the Socialists and the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (one of the subgroups within Our Ukraine) are lobbying the coalition to reverse its decision of earlier this week to nominate Petro Poroshenko as speaker. Tom Warner: There are many things being negotiated behind the scenes, including parliamentary committee chairmanships and possible last-minute swaps of ministries within the coalition. This will drag on into next week at least.