Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine: the first 100 days

SUMMARY

On 7 March 2015, there were 100 days since the MPs of Ukraine of VIII convocation have taken the authority. For these first 100 days, Ukrainian Parliament has managed to conduct 30 plenary meetings and pass 379 decisions. The current convocation of the Parliament started working in a more organized way and will less conflicts if compared to the previous convocation. For example, in contrast to the Parliament of VII convocation which had started its functioning with ten days of rostrum blocking, current MPs avoided such acute and continuous confrontations.

Current MPs of Ukraine have been actively drafting new legislative initiatives, 40% exceeding the number of legislative initiatives drafted by the previous convocation of the Parliament (VIII convocation – 1,750 bills for the first 100 days; VII convocation – 1,008 bills for the first 100 days). However, such high number of registered bills shows not only that MPs are striving to implement their ideas, but also that there is a problem resulting from a vast number of bills and no planning system for drafting them.

Another problem that Ukrainian Parliament has is its institutional independence and pressure of other state and political institutions. The Parliament has adopted 379 draft laws and resolutions, 62% of which were initiated by MPs of Ukraine. Such a high percentage shows that Ukrainian Parliament can play a leading and independent role in the change of legislative regulation. However, it has to promptly consider legislative initiatives submitted by the President and the Government. Thus, the Parliament has managed to consider all 53 bills submitted by the President, and 68% of them were supported by the deputy corps. As for the bills submitted by the Government, the Parliament has supported 63% of those it managed to consider. Having summarized the bills adopted by the Parliament, we can state that the current convocation is focused on activities of law-enforcement bodies, judicial policy and justice, national security and defense, budget policy etc.

According to OPORA's calculations, the People's Front faction has supported draft decisions initiated by the Parliament the most often (in 75.19% of cases). As for the ruling coalition, the Samopomich Union supported the draft laws and resolutions in the agenda the least (58.22%). The Opposition Block has ignored the voting for most of the issues on the agenda, and supported only some draft laws and resolutions (only 8.06% of votes "for").

These calculations demonstrate political strategies of parliamentary factions. On one side, the Opposition Block is trying to show by such ignorance of the voting it’s the only party in opposition. On the other side, some members of the ruling coalition are not going to take political responsibility for all decisions of the Parliament (particularly the Samopomich),

Another problem that is still topical for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is attendance on plenary meetings. Only 68 of 423 MPs of Ukraine have visited all 30 plenary meetings in the Parliament. Members of the People's Front turned out to be the most disciplined. They have visited 89% of plenary meetings in average. Members of the Volia Narodu deputy group showed the worst attendance of plenary meetings (66%).

The analysis of the first 100 days of the Parliament's activities has displayed the following problems: MPs violate constitutional requirements of personal voting; there is a need to develop and introduce a standardized assessment system an order to verify the quality of legislative initiatives and to plan law-making activities.

LAW-MAKING ACTIVITIES IN THE VERKHOVNA RADA OF UKRAINE

According to the Constitution of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada is the only law-making body. Although only the Parliament can adopt laws, legislative initiatives can be submitted by the President of Ukraine, MPs of Ukraine, and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

The President, the Government, and MPs have prepared 2,000 bills for the first 100 days after the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of VIII convocation took the authority. Almost 88% of them were introduced by MPs of Ukraine.

1,750 bills were introduced by MPs personally or by groups of MPs, 197 bills were prepared by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, 53 bills were introduced by the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.

The Parliament of VIII convocation has registered more bills than the previous convocation of the Parliament for the first 100 days. MPs of VII convocation had registered 1,008 bills for the first 100 days, what is 42% less than MPs of the current convocation have registered.

However, the fact that MPs of Ukraine are so active law-making and even more active than the Government and the President can be interpreted in some ways. From one side, they are motivated to implement their election promises on the legislative level, follow their political programs, and demonstrate their personal productivity. On the other side, such vast amount of bills drafted by MPs can be a sign of inefficient coordination of political and professional positions between them, as well as the absence of law-making planning in the Parliament. Besides that, the quality of these bills is not verified systematically.

The law-making process in Ukraine includes some stages starting with the preparation of a bill, its registration in the Parliament and consideration by VRU Committees, and ending with consideration of the bill on a plenary meeting, signing by the President of Ukraine and publishing.

Taking into consideration the number of registered bills, the Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Government has the largest number of bills to consider. This Committee has 296 draft laws and resolutions for consideration as a main executor. However, only 25% of them are bills, and the other are draft resolutions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (mostly resolutions on the announcement of early local elections).

The other overloaded committees are: the Committee on Taxation and Customs Policy (218 draft laws and resolutions for consideration as a main executor); the Committee on Legislative Support of Law Enforcement (206); the Committee on Judicial Policy and Justice (132); the Committee on Rules of Parliamentary Procedure (113).

The Committee of Informatization has the smallest number of draft laws and resolutions for consideration (3 draft laws and resolutions for consideration as a main executor). The Committee on Family Matters, Youth Policy, Sports and Tourism has 12 draft laws and resolutions for consideration, the Committee on Transport – 17, Committee on European Integration – 16.

CONSIDERATION OF LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES IN THE VERKHOVNA RADA OF VIII CONVOCATION

After 100 days of its activities, the Parliament of VIII convocation has managed to consider 28% of all registered draft laws and draft resolutions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (560 of 2,000 bills). In particular, the Parliament considered all 53 bills introduced by the President of Ukraine.

68% of bills considered by the Parliament were adopted (379 of 560). However, it's only 19% of all registered draft laws (379 of 2,000).

The largest number of legislative initiatives was submitted during the first 100 days by MPs of Ukraine (62% of adopted bills, or 236 of 379).

The Cabinet of Ministers in on the second place by the number of successfully adopted legislative initiatives (28% of adopted draft laws and resolutions, or 107 of 379). Finally, there are only 9% of Presidential bills among those adopted by the Parliament (36 of 379).

Most of the decisions passed by the Parliament were under authority of the Committee on Legislative Support of Law Enforcement (53 decisions), the Committee on Judicial Policy and Justice (34 decisions), and the Committee on National Security and Defense (32 decisions).

As we can see, despite the complicated social and political situation in Ukraine which intensifies the role of executive branch and the President of Ukraine, the largest number of legislative initiatives was submitted by MPs of Ukraine. At the same time, the Parliament manages to consider and approve draft laws and resolutions submitted by the President and the Government. 68% of 53 bills introduced by the President of Ukraine have been already supported by MPs of Ukraine. As for the bills introduced by the Government, 63% of them were supported on plenary meetings of the Parliament.

ACTIVITIES OF MPs AND DEPUTY FACTIONS

Civil Network OPORA has analyzed activities of MPs and deputy factions on the basis of three main activeness indicators: 1) law-making activities; 2) making inquiries; 3) statements on plenary sittings of the Parliament.

Members of the Petro Poroshenko Block have submitted the largest number of bills to the Parliament as authors or co-authors. Thus, representatives of this faction have participated in the preparation of 1,292 bills. Members of the People's Front have prepared as authors or participated in the preparation as co-authors 1,134 bills. However, such high activeness indicators of the Petro Poroshenko Block and the People's Front are quite expected taking into consideration their large membership. Non-faction MPs, for their part, have prepared 869 bills and took the third place in law-making activeness rating.

603 bills are prepared/co-prepared by members of the AUU Batkivshchyna faction, 324 – the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko, 302 – the Opposition Block faction, 278 – the Samopomich faction. Members of the Economic Development and the Volia Narodu deputy groups have participated in the preparation of 124 and 189 bills correspondingly.

However, if we take into consideration the number of members in factions and calculate the average number of bills per member, the activeness indicators will be different. In average, one member of the AUU Batkivshchyna faction has prepared 32 bills. The corresponding average number of bills per member in the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko – 15 bills, the People's Front - 14, the Samopomich – 9, Opposition Block – 8, the Volia Narody group – 11, and the Economic Development group – 7. The average number of bills per non-faction MP is 21. Thus, the Petro Poroshenko Block has participated in development of the largest number of bills, but the AUU Batkivshchyna had the heaviest load in this aspect.

However, the number of bills drafted by the certain MPs cannot be a single criterion of their efficiency. The assessment of law-making activities should be definitely based on the quality of initiatives and propositions but not the quantity. Nonetheless, bills that MPs introduce can be used to track their political and professional direction, as well as consistency of their positions and approaches. As of 100 days of Parliament's activities, the following MPs participated in development of the largest number of draft laws and resolutions: Serhii Vlasenko (273), Olena Ledovskykh (264), Olena Boiko (261), Oleksii Honcharenko (212). These MPs were attracted to the drafting of so many draft laws and resolutions only because they are members of the Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Government which is responsible for the preparation of Parliament's resolutions on announcement of early local elections. At the same time, the following non-faction MPs have submitted the largest number of purposeful bills: Yurii Levchenko (97), Mykhailo Holovko (90), and Oleksandr Marchenko (85). However, they have mostly re-registered the bills drafted by the AUU Svoboda during the previous convocation of the Parliament.

According to OPORA's calculations, MP Oleh Liashko was the most active in consideration of agenda items on plenary meetings of the Parliament during the first 100 days of it's activities. This politician took the floor 116 times. The other MPs in Top 10 of the most active speakers of the current convocation: Oleh Bereziuk (Samopomich, 76 speeches), Yurii Lutsenko (Petro Poroshenko Block, 53 speeches), Viktor Halasiuk (Radical Party of Oleh Liashko, 53 speeches), and Oleksandra Kuzhel (AUU Batkivshchyna, 50 speeches).

Viktoriia Siumar became the most active member of the People's Front faction (39 speeches), Opposition Block – Yurii Boiko (25 speeches), the Economic Development deputy group – Vitalii Khomutynnik (15 speeches), Volia Narodu – Ihor Yeremeiev
(7 speeches). As for non-faction MPs, Yurii Levchenko was the most active on plenary sittings (36 speeches).

As for the average number of speeches per member, the most active faction was the AUU Batkivshchyna (almost 15 speeches per member), the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko (12 speeches per member in average), and Samopomich (8 speeches per member in average). The averages for the other parties are the following: People's Front – 5 speeches per member; Opposition Block – 4 speeches; Petro Poroshenko Block – 3 speeches; the Economic Development deputy group – 3 speeches; the Volia Narodu – 1 speech, non-faction MPs – 4 speeches.

One of the most important instruments an MP has is a parliamentary inquiry. MP of Ukraine has the right to make an inquiry to the President of Ukraine, bodies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, officials of other state authorities and local self-government bodies, directors of enterprises, institutions and organizations and receive an official answer concerning issues in their authority.

For the first 100 days of Parliament's work, MPs of Ukraine have made 703 inquiries. 243 of them were prepared by members of the Petro Poroshenko Block, 157 by non-faction MPs, 111 by the People's Front, and 73 by the Samopomich. Members of the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko, the Economic Development deputy group, the Volia Narodu, and the Opposition Block have prepared 30, 25, 25, and 23 inquiries respectively.

Ruslan Solvar (PPB) and Yakiv Bezbakh (non-faction) have used the mechanism of parliamentary inquiry the most often, they have personally sent 49 and 44 inquiries respectively for the first 100 days of Parliament's activities.

However, there are 16 MPs in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine who didn't prepare any inquiries for these 100 days, didn't take the floor on plenary sittings, and didn't participate in preparation of bills[1]. Nadiia Savcehnko is one of such MPs. She's illegally detained in pretrial detention center in the Russian Federation and, therefore, cannot implement her duties as an MPs.

DEPUTY FACTIONS AND GROUPS AND THEIR POLITICAL POSITION/VOTING

How deputy factions vote

For the period from 27 November 2014 to 7 March 2015. The Parliament of VIII convocation has conducted 30 plenary sessions during two sessions. Thus, the Parliament voted on 637 agenda items.

Taking into consideration the average number of votes "for", "against", and "abstained" by different factions (see Table 1), we can state that the People's Front faction the most often supported draft laws under consideration of the Parliament (in 75.19%), the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko and the AUU Batkivshchyna share the second and the third place with 69.29% and 63.36% respectively. As for the ruling coalition, the Samopomich Union supported the draft laws and resolutions in the agenda the least (58.22%).

The Opposition Block had radically different indicators than the other parties. Thus, members of this party usually ignored the obligation to vote, and even when they were present in the Parliament, they voted on 11.75% agenda items. In general, the Opposition Block supported draft laws and resolutions the least (only 8.06% of votes "for"). Besides that, its members usually abstained from the voting (45.21%).

Having analyzed the voting results for this period, we can state that Ukrainian parliamentarians usually don't choose to vote "against" the draft laws and resolutions on the agenda. Non-faction MPs vote against the most often (4.03%), and the Opposition Block goes after them (3.52%). The other groups and factions push the button "against in general from 0.35% (the People's Front faction) to 1.86% (the Samopomich Union faction). MPs also almost never choose to push the button "abstain". It's used in general from 0.11% (the People's Front faction) to 1.29% (non-faction MPs).

We've also noticed than many MPs don't vote despite they are registered on a sitting and, therefore, are present in the Parliament. Such position can be considered as evasion of their duties as MPs, particularly an obligation to participate in consideration of items on the agenda. Members of the Samopomich Union refused to vote 24.21% of considerations, and is the fourth after the Volia Narodu (26.32%) and the Economic Development (44.44%) deputy groups, and the Opposition Block with the highest percentage (45.21%).

As for attendance during the consideration and voting, the certain members of the Volia Narodu were absent on 52.75% of considerations, the Economic Development – 33.25%, non-faction MPs – 45.59%, and the Opposition Block – 43.04%. Thus, it's impossible to determine their political position concerning agenda items.

If we take both indicators – the absence and refusal to vote, we can see that many MPs fail to fulfill their duties in the Parliament on a satisfactory level. Thus, almost one third of MPs (142 persons) were either absent during the voting or were present but didn't vote on 50% of considerations.

Table 1. Deputy factions and groups and their voting

	FOR	AGAINST	ABSTRAINED	ABSENT	DIDN'T VOTE
Faction of the Petro Poroshenko Block party	62.45 %	0.54 %	0.79 %	17.06 %	19.16 %
Faction of the People's Front political party	75.19 %	0.35 %	0.11 %	7.87 %	16.47 %
Faction of the Opposition Block political party	8.06 %	3.52 %	0.17 %	43.04 %	45.21 %
Faction of the Samopomich Union party	58.22 %	1.86 %	0.54 %	15.17 %	24.21 %
Faction of the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko	69.29 %	0.92 %	0.59 %	10.12 %	19.08 %
All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland faction	63.36 %	0.93 %	0.45 %	20.11 %	15.15 %
Volia Narodu Group	20.31 %	0.45 %	0.17 %	52.75 %	26.32 %
Economic Development group	20.91 %	0.91 %	0.50 %	33.25 %	44.44 %
Non-faction	28.98 %	4.03 %	1.29 %	45.59 %	20.12 %

Personal voting of MPs of Ukraine

On the basis of 637 considerations of draft laws and resolutions from 27 November 2014 to 7 March 2015, we can state: members of the People's Front M.O. Kadykalo (90.42% votes "for") and V.A. Korchyk (89.32%) were supporting the agenda items the most often, as well as representative of the Petro Poroshenko Block I.D. Sporysh (89.32%).

Non-faction MPs voted "against" the most often: A.Yu. Illienko (19.46% votes "against"), Yu.V. Levchenko (19.15%), O.O. Marchenko (18.99%). It's interesting that 82 MPs from different factions and groups haven't pushed the button "against" during the voting for the whole period of their work in the Parliament of VIII convocation.

A lot of current MPs ignore the voting process and doesn't express any definite positions during consideration of draft laws. Most of such MPs belong to the Opposition Block, the Economic Development and Volia Narodu groups, and non-faction MPs. They took the first 43 places on this indicator. The following MPs choose not to vote the most often: S.M. Larin (didn't vote on 82.26 % considerations), V.V. Zubyk (78.8 %) and L.M. Klimov (78.49 %).

Besides illegally imprisoned N. Savchenko, the following MPs have missed the largest number of considerations in the Parliament: non-faction MPs K.V. Zhevaho (95.6%) and S.P. Kliuiev (93.87%), and an «old timer» in the Parliament Yu.L. Zviahilskyi (93.72%) – member of the Opposition Block faction.

Non-faction MPs D.O. Shentsev, D.V. Sviatash, and S.V. Liovochkin (member of the Opposition Block faction) voted "for" or "against" not more than 6 times each during consideration of 637 draft laws and resolutions. In all the other cases they either were absent or didn't vote.

DISCIPLINE OF MPs OF UKRAINE

According to the Law of Ukraine on the rules of procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, members of parliament shall be registered in person by demonstration of a personal parliamentary ID card and personally confirm their presence with their signatures. MPs register in the session hall of the Verkhovna Rada personally through an electronic system, and other persons cannot register them. At the same time, MP’s salary for participation in plenary meetings shall be calculated based on written data register.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine held 30 plenary sittings for the first 100 days of its work. According to the written registration data, 68 MPs attended all plenary sittings without an exception.

The following MPs were present on the smallest number of plenary sittings: Andrii Biletskyi (13%), Dmytro Yarosh (17%), Serhii Pashynskyi, Volodymyr Zubyk, and Mykhailo Dobkin (23% each). Member of the AUU Batkivshchyna faction Nadiia Savchenko didn't attend any plenary sittings, as long as she was abducted on the territory of Ukraine and is illegally detained in pretrial detention center in the Russian Federation now. As for non-faction MP Dmytro Yarosh, he takes active part in the anti-terrorist operation in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, and was wounded in a battle. MP Andrii Biletskyi has low attendance because he is attracted to the leadership of patrolling regiment of the Azov special police, Main Department of MIA in Kyiv oblast

If we take averages of attendance at plenary sittings, the People's Front turned out to be the most disciplined (89% attendance). Members of the Volia Narodu deputy group showed the worst attendance at plenary meetings (66%).

RECOMMENDATIONS

To the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, MPs of Ukraine

To develop and introduce a standardized assessment system to verify the quality of legislative initiatives and plan law-making activities;
To secure that MPs of Ukraine fully adhere to the Law of Ukraine on the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine concerning written registration at plenary sittings;
To secure implementation of the Article 33 (5) of the Law of Ukraine on the Status of MP of Ukraine saying "MPs who fail to fulfill their duties without valid reasons shall be deprived of remuneration for such days by the corresponding committee responsible for ethics of MPs";
To finish the process of securing the impossibility to violate constitutional requirements concerning personal voting by legislative and technical means.

[1] I.Sporysh (PPB), R. Demchak (PPB), S. Kliuiev (non-faction), D. Omelianovych (Opposition Block), I. Baloha (non-faction), Ye. Balytskyi (the Economic Development deputy group), K. Zhevaho (non-faction), D. Dobkin (Opposition Block), V. Zubyk (the Economic Development deputy group), O. Dmytrenko (PPB), T. Kozak (Opposition Block), I.Myrnyi (Opposition Block), N. Savchenko (AUU Batkivshchyna, is being illegally detained on the territory of the Russian Federation), O.Savchenko (PPB), Yu.Babii (People's Front), Ya.Lesiuk (People's Front).