Rada fails to dismiss minister Avakov amid family scandal

Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, failed on Nov.
7 to approve a resolution that would have dismissed Interior Minister Arsen
Avakov after his son was detained last week in an investigation of price
gouging involving the ministry. Only 31 out of a needed majority of 226 MPs
voted in favor of his dismissal, including eight MPs from the Poroshenko Bloc
and nine MPs from the Self-Reliance party. Avakov’s son, Oleksandr, is accused
of selling 6,000 police backpacks to the ministry at excessive prices.

Zenon Zawada: We don’t
believe the vote failed because Avakov is so popular among the parliament’s
MPs, or with the public for that matter. Instead, Ukraine’s political forces
see Avakov as a necessary bulwark against the authoritarian tendencies of the
Poroshenko administration, which has used its bodies (including the Prosecutor
General and Security Service of Ukraine) to intimidate political rivals ahead
of the 2019 elections.

Avakov has built a strong base of support around
himself with the police and removing him would collapse any last counterbalance
to Poroshenko’s influence, which has swelled since his election. Even if
Avakov’s party, the People’s Front, merges with the Poroshenko Bloc (which we
expect), Avakov is sure to maintain his own sphere of influence and play his
own political game.