Ukraine de facto coalition has no official majority

The two parliamentary factions that form the coalition today, Petro Poroshenko Bloc and the People’s Front, have cumulatively 220 MPs, the official website of the Verkhovna Rada reported this morning. That’s six MPs short of a needed majority that would make the coalition legitimate. Four MPs from the Poroshenko Bloc submitted their resignations to join the Cabinet on April 14, as well as two MPs from the People’s Front, with no replacements reported. The evening of the resignations, Parliamentary Speaker Andriy Parubiy of the People’s Front claimed the two factions had 234 MPs between them.

Zenon Zawada: The weekend has passed and the coalition has yet to demonstrate the 226+ MPs needed for the two largest factions to claim their de facto majority. This majority is on a de facto basis because the two largest factions expressed no intention of forming a new coalition on a de jure basis, instead basing their new majority on the previous coalition.

If the de facto coalition doesn’t produce its 226 MPs by tomorrow’s session, that would significantly buttress the accusations by the pro-Western opposition that the coalition was illegally formed. Moreover, the lack of a clear majority will make a bad first impression on Ukraine’s Western partners, just as the Cabinet attempts to renew relations.