Ukraine presidential ally to be the next head of parliament, report says

Volodymyr Groysman will be the next head of parliament, the Ukrayinska Pravda news site reported on Nov. 24, citing an anonymous source within the Petro Poroshenko Bloc to which Groysman belongs. The current parliamentary head, Oleksandr Turchynov, is competing for the positions of first deputy parliamentary head and secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. Turchynov belongs to the People’s Front led by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

Zenon Zawada: It will come as no surprise if Groysman becomes the next head of parliament because the Poroshenko Bloc earned the most mandates in the October elections. Yatsenyuk, who said he supports Groysman as speaker, will remain as prime minister because his People’s Front party won the voting based on party lists.

Rivalries became apparent during the coalition talks between the two political camps (Poroshenko Bloc and People’s Front). If they flare up, which we see a chance of happening, then the government’s work will fail. Yet at the same time, we have the expectation that a conflict as extreme as the Yushchenko-Tymoshenko debacle of 2005-2009 won’t be repeated.

We view Groysman playing a very similar role as Yatsenyuk. Both are rising, young politicians who were tapped by the nation’s oligarchy to represent their interests on the political stage. They are both competent administrators in the Ukrainian bureaucracy who are expected to serve as effective mediators between the main players in Ukrainian politics: the oligarchic clans, Western and Russian interests and the citizenry.