Ukraine MPs received bonuses for certain votes, their group head says

The Renaissance group of MPs in the Ukrainian
parliament received “bonuses for districts” from the Poroshenko administration
on certain votes, its former heard, Vitaliy Khomutynnik, told the pravda.com.ua
news site in an interview published on Sept. 22. He was referring to his group
of 26 MPs that represent single-mandate districts, which determine half of
Ukraine’s parliament. The other half is determined by closed list proportional
voting.

“If we, for example, in voting for the budget
achieve an increase in spending for our districts, then I don’t think that’s
anything to be ashamed of,” he said. “It’s true that each of our
single-mandate MPs, in voting for the budget, was motivated by whether more was
spent for their district. These funds are then used to build schools,
nurseries, roads and all the rest.” Khomutynnik announced early this month
that he resigned as the group’s head during state investigations of his
financial declarations.

Zenon Zawada: It’s
precisely for this reason that Ukrainian President Poroshenko fought to
preserve single-mandate districts in electing the parliament in 2014, rather
than agreeing to it being determined exclusively by open-list proportional
voting, as had been advocated by pro-Western activists. Having MPs from
single-mandate districts available enables the Poroshenko administration to
“acquire” the necessary votes for needed legislation, in exchange for favors
done for their respective election districts.