Ukraine’s parliament to convene on August 29

The Ninth Convocation of Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna
Rada (VR), will sit on August 29. The pravda.com.ua news site reports that on
Friday, August 9, members of the interparty preparatory group tabled several
dates ranging from August 20 through September 3. Servant of the People party
chair Dmitry Razumkov explained that the VR could not sit before August 27, as
the law stipulates that the first seating must happen at least 20 days after
the official announcement of the parliamentary election results, and that this
occurred on August 7. Razumkov proposed August 29, because if the VR meets on
the 27th itself “there might be questions, because it is exactly 20 days”, and
the date was accepted by a majority of those present.

James Hydzik: The August 29 starting date fits the new political reality, where the
rhetoric for having as early a start as possible is tempered by law (the 20-day
rule) and custom (Monday, August 26 is the Independence Day holiday, and
gathering the deputies on August 27 would be improbable). Razumkov’s statement
about raising questions if the VR opened on the 20th day only make sense from
the perspective of having to explain the number of empty seats if there were an
early start.