On August 29, IX convocation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine will start to work. It has been already announced that in addition to MPs taking an oath on this first day, its is planned to elect leadership of parliament, form VRU committees and consider ten draft laws. Civil Network OPORA has analyzed peculiarities of the previous convocation of the Parliament and prepared 20 facts about it. 

Voting

Fact 1. In the previous convocation of Parliament, there were 22,200 votes per an MP.

Fact 2. MPs didn't participate in a quarter of votings. 

Fact 3. MPs almost never voted "against". Only in 0.9% cases MPs voted "against".

Fact 4. 393 - is the largest number of votes cast by MPs "for" a draft decision. This is particularly a Draft Resolution on the Counting Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the VIII convocation. 370 votes have got each the Draft Resolution on the Head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Draft Resolution on the Procedure for Media Coverage of the Work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of VIII Convocation. 

The work of committees

Fact 5. The previous convocation of the Verkhovna Rada had 27 committees.

Fact 6. The biggest number ofMPs worked in the Committee on Tax and Customs Policy- 32 persons. The Committee on Social Policy, Employment and Pension had the smallest number of MPs - 6 persons.

Fact 7. The shortest committee meeting continued 46 seconds. This was a meeting of the Committee on Industrial Policy and Entrepreneurship, held on 1 November 2016. During this meeting, MPs spoke 87 words. 

Fact 8. The longestpause between meetings of one committee continued for 118 days. Committee on Economic Policy did not meet from May 25 to September 20  in 2017.

Law-making

Fact 9. 7,703 draft laws were registered in the Parliament.

Fact 10. Previous convocation of the Verkhovna Rada adopted 922 laws.

Fact 11. 46% of bills  were not considered.

Fact 12. The Draft Law on Professional Higher Education was developed by the biggest number of co-authors - 256. However, he was never adopted.

Fact 13. The longest consideration of a draft law (from registration to signing) continued for 1,323 days. This was the Draft Law on the Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons Who Participated in the Protection of Territorial Integrity and Sovereignty of Ukraine. It was registered on 9 November 2015and signed on24 June 2019.

Speeches

Fact 14. MPs took the floor 40,833 times.

Fact 15. If we add up all the time MPs spoke in the Parliament, we'll get 41 days 8 hours 19 minutes 23 seconds of uninterrupted speech. This time equals to, for example, watching all seasons of the Game of Thrones 21 times. 

Fact 16. 31 MPs  gave no speeches.

Other facts

Fact 17. 110 groups on international cooperation were created in the Parliament.

Fact 18. MPs prepared 28,063 parliamentary inquiries. Two MPs made the biggest number of inquiries - 670.

Fact 19. 46 MPs changed their faction or group at least once. This fact also concerns non-faction MPs who joined a particular faction or group during the convocation. 

Fact 20. 17 MPs of the previous convocation were subject to the procedure of lifting immunity. In  9 cases the immunity was successfully lifted, and in 8 cases - not.