Ukraine opposition MPs fail to gather enough votes to dismiss Cabinet

Ukraine’s parliamentary opposition failed on December 3 to muster enough votes to dismiss the Cabinet of Ministers as demanded by hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who protested this weekend. They scraped together 186 votes, well short of the necessary 226-vote majority. The three opposition factions supported the no confidence vote, but a fourth faction, the Communist Party of Ukraine, abandoned the initiative at the last minute, instead presenting its own no-confidence bill – which condemned the EU Association Agreement – that wasn’t registered. Also failing to vote were about 20 MPs of the ruling Party of Regions who were thought to favor Euro-integration and earlier claimed they were abandoning the party. Ukrainian law restricts no confidence votes to once in a session, leaving the next opportunity until February.

As of the fourth day of the EuroMaidan, demonstrators still had under their control the Kyiv City Council building, the trade union building and Kyiv’s central Independence Square, where 50 tents have emerged inside an enclave surrounded by two- and three-meter barricades of metal and wood. However, government forces have taken control of the street in front of the Cabinet and parliament. Tens of thousands of supporters joined the protests yesterday, with the same number expected today.

Zenon Zawada: The opposition factions demonstrated their incompetence with this failed vote, which is why they enjoy such minimal support from the Ukrainian public, many of whom have the impression that the opposition MPs don’t want to upset the current political order. That sentiment was confirmed by independent MP Volodymyr Lytvyn, who told the Kommersant-Ukraina newspaper after the vote, “They didn’t agree at all to review our proposals, maintaining that they’re little interest in the government’s resignation but the revolutionary process must be supported.” He led two dozen MPs in preparing a resolution asking the president to dismiss the Cabinet, even more unlikely at this point than the parliamentary effort.

What’s particularly disturbing is the government hasn’t offered the resignation of Internal Affairs Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko. His police officers brutalized hundreds of Ukrainians this weekend, beginning with the November 30 morning raid of peaceful protestors that led to a few dozen hospitalizations. Instead, Party of Regions Parliamentary Faction Chair Oleksandr Yefremov said Zakharchenko would remain in place “to ensure order.” Such disregard for the opposition only adds fuel to the protests.

With the parliamentary vote undermined, protestors are left with the single remaining option of pressuring Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to resign and dismiss the Cabinet and parliament. Yet  their method is limited to blocking activity in the capital and other cities and advocating a national strike, which hasn’t gained momentum beyond Kyiv and western Ukraine. Yet the thickness and length of the barricades indicate that the opposition has the potential to remain entrenched for weeks, if the government doesn’t apply force to remove them, which will only ignite more protests and outrage.