“Opposition Bloc” proposes abolishing president’s post in Ukraine

Ukraine needs a new Constitution providing for a parliamentary republic instead of the “discredited institution of presidency,” Boris Kolesnikov, the people’s deputy from the “Opposition Party” has said at the meeting of the “shadow” Cabinet.

“To achieve a success, we need an absolutely new Constitution that will put an end to the old system (of state governance). If all the five presidents of Ukraine proved ineffective, this means that the post of the president is not effective either. We need a parliamentary republic. If the public sees a threat of federalization – yet I don’t see such threat – we must create a unitary country with broad rights and powers for the regions and councils of all levels,” the politician explained.

He said that Ukraine needs a new Basic Law, not just some cosmetic amendments to the existing one. “All the amendments the government suggests are declarative and populist measures. A new Constitution will sort all the power branches out, regulate the state governance, and eliminate the threat of power usurpation in the country,” Kolesnikov said.

He calls for cutting the number of seats in the parliament. “The lower chamber must have 70-150 members, the upper one must have by one representative per one million voters. If 450 deputies failed to receive 226 votes, why should we keep surplus seats? There is no sense in it,” the “shadow” prime minister said.

“I am sure if they start bargaining and manipulating on the Constitution, the president should display a political will and distribute the draft Constitution to every family in Ukraine and get an answer – to put the Constitution to a nation-wide referendum,” Kolesnikov said.

The former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych with the help of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine cancelled the results of the Constitutional Reform of 2004 that turned Ukraine into a parliamentary-presidential state from the presidential-parliamentary one.  On September 30 2010, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine cancelled the Reform and put the Constitution of 1996 into effect again. The Constitution provided wide powers and influence to the executive power.