Breaking: Ukraine's Legislature Votes to Hand Presidential Powers to Parliament Speaker

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

@AP: BREAKING: Ukraine's legislature votes to hand presidential powers to parliament speaker.

@BreakingNews: Ukraine's parliament votes to temporarily hand over the duties of president to the speaker of the assembly, Oleksander Turchinov - @Reuters

UKRAINE: PARLIAMENT CHIEF TAKES PRESIDENTIAL POWER

By YURAS KARMANAU and JIM HEINTZ
— Feb. 23, 2014 5:58 AM EST

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's newly emboldened legislature has voted to hand the president's powers to the parliament speaker.

The legitimacy of Sunday's vote is unclear. President Viktor Yanukovych has said that a flurry of parliament decisions in recent days are illegal.

The Verhovna Rada voted overwhelmingly to temporarily hand the president's powers to speaker Turchinov.

Oleksandr Turchinov is a close ally of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the president's main foe.



Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ukraine-presidents-whereabouts-unclear

[dipsydoodle]

1. No mention of whether or not that is allowable under their constitution.

For the time being Yanukovych remains their President - he has yet to be impeached.

[DFW]

2. In the face of a popular uprising

I'm not sure Yanukovich would be wise to fall back on the constitution if that's all he had.

Both Nikolai II of Russia and Nicolae Ceauşescu of Romania thought that argument would save them in the face of uprisings in their respective countries. It didn't work out so well for them, either. Yanukovich was wise to hide. He might have waited a little too long, though. The opulence of his living quarters is now public knowledge, and border guards at Donyetsk airport already refused to let him flee the country by plane from their airport.

It looks like the Ukrainians have reached their "'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" stage, and Yanukovich is having a little trouble locating those Ukrainians who are not yet mad as hell.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Good summary....

I agree.

altho
I think many chapters are yet to play out, given Ukraine's history.

[DFW]

5. You're right--anyone who thinks they know the final chapter in this mess is probably wrong

Stepping too heavily on Putin's toes will trigger a bloodbath, as he will not stand for a full EU membership for the Ukraine. But treading too lightly will earn the hate of a huge portion of the Ukranians who don't want to be citizens of a neo-Soviet colony. There will not be a neat, clean way out of this.

[dipsydoodle]

6. For the foreseeable future

I've more chance of swimming the Atlantic than they have got of joining the EU as a member state. They currently face bankrupcy.

[DFW]

7. So do Romania and Bulgaria

Not that the EU had any business inviting them to join in the first place.

But the decision to "invite" Romania and Bulgaria was not made to benefit the EU. It was made to benefit maybe 15 large European multinationals companies looking for some cheap labor and some factories in cheap labor places that would not suffer customs duties when they brought their products back into Germany/France etc.

Right here in Germany, I was there when Nokia closed their plant in Bochum, fired 4000 workers, and then set up shop in Romania.

[dipsydoodle]

8. In the case of Ukraine

further bond buying by Russia is now in doubt leaving the IMF to fill the cash flow hole. Good luck with that - they'd already demanded onerous conditions

[DFW]

9. A hole is right

I'm sure you're right about the IMF. ANYONE pouring liquidity into the Ukraine at this point has to know that it most likely never to be seen again.

[another_liberal]

11. At this point . . .

I imagine most of the EU would have to reject this Ukrainian government on several other grounds as well. Check out my recent post, #10, below.

[joshcryer]

4. That is the process under the constitution.

Article 112. In the event of an early termination of the authority of the President of Ukraine in accordance with Articles 108, 109, 110 and 111 of this Constitution, the discharge of the duties of the President of Ukraine, for the period pending the elections and the assumption of the office by the next President of Ukraine, shall be vested on the Prime Minister of Ukraine. The Prime Minister of Ukraine, for the period of discharge of the duties of the President of Ukraine, may not exercise the powers stipulated by items 2, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 22, 25, 27 of Article 106 of the Constitution of Ukraine.

http://www.president.gov.ua/en/content/chapter05.html

He has been impeached. Impeachment is a political process, they have voted to oust him from power, completely. There is no "defense" for impeachment, there is no "trial" for impeachment, it is a vote.

[stevenleser]

15. Did they fulfill article 111? I'm trying to find out. (On Edit - They Did!)

If you have a link that would be great. thanks!

I found it http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/02/ukraine-parliament-ousts-president-yanukovich-2014222152035601620.html

Ukraine's parliament has voted to remove President Viktor Yanukovich from office, hours after he abandoned his Kiev office to protesters and denounced what he described as a coup.

The impeachment, which was backed by 328 of the 447 deputies, argues that Yanukovich abused his powers.

The Ukrainian parliament, which decisively abandoned Yanukovich after loyalists defected, declared on Saturday the president constitutionally unable to carry out his duties and set an early election for May 25.

Deputies in the assembly stood, applauded and sang the national anthem.

[stevenleser]

20. UPDATE: Apparently there is a dispute about whether Article 111 was completely fulfilled.

This IBTimes article: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ukrainian-parliament-impeaches-president-yanukovich-1437539

suggests that the process is nearly impossible to execute properly and thus the impeachment is likely not completely Constitutionally valid.

Current Ukrainian legislation has an impeachment clause, though it is extremely complex and many commentators argue it is practically impossible to enact.

On Edit: When you read through Article 111 which specifies what you have to do to execute impeachment properly, it does seem pretty arduous:

Article 111. The President of Ukraine may be removed from the office by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in compliance with a procedure of impeachment if he commits treason or other crime.

The issue of the removal of the President of Ukraine from the office in compliance with a procedure of impeachment shall be initiated by the majority of the constitutional membership of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine shall establish a special ad hoc investigating commission, composed of special prosecutor and special investigators to conduct an investigation.

The conclusions and proposals of the ad hoc investigating commission shall be considered at the meeting of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

On the ground of evidence, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine shall, by at least two-thirds of its constitutional membership, adopt a decision to bring charges against the President of Ukraine.

The decision on the removal of the President of Ukraine from the office in compliance with the procedure of impeachment shall be adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by at least three-quarters of its constitutional membership upon a review of the case by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, and receipt of its opinion on the observance of the constitutional procedure of investigation and consideration of the case of impeachment, and upon a receipt of the opinion of the Supreme Court of Ukraine to the effect that the acts, of which the President of Ukraine is accused, contain elements of treason or other crime.

This seems (and is) confusing so I have broken it down.

1. Process initiated by a majority of the parliament
2. A special investigating commission has to be established
3. That investigating commission has to conduct an investigation
4. The conclusions of that investigation have to be discussed at a meeting of parliament
5. The parliament by 2/3rds vote has to decide to bring charges
6. The Constitutional court of ukraine must review the investigation and case and confirm that the case includes elements of treason or another crime.
7. The parliament has to vote to convict by a 3/4ths vote.

That is a complicated process that would seem to take a lot of time. I don't think it all has been done.

[dipsydoodle]

24. The Russian press had conveyed such issues prior to the event

in context with Ukraine's constitution inasmuch it could be a complicated and lengthy process but without being specific as you have been.

[Igel]

34. I don't even know what the "current" Ukr constitution is.

It's sort of the 2004 one, but the 1996 one with legislation and amendments from 2004, 2011, 2013.

Presumably if you've followed this particular strain of the discussion straight along it makes more sense than if you read what's in the press for just the last few days.

[joshcryer]

41. I think ad hoc gives lots of room though.

[davidpdx]

44. Thanks for the explaination

That is pretty complex. It doesn't seem like it could be done in a day or even a week, but would take much longer.

[geek tragedy]

22. Yanukovych would have to worry about swinging from a street lamp

after the depth of his crimes have been revealed. He fled and is no longer an issue, except for attempts to claw back the money he stole.

[sabbat hunter]

26. wasn't he removed

by a vote of their parliament? Their impeachment laws are different from ours, so it may just require a vote of that body to remove the president.

[stevenleser]

28. See my #20. nt

[another_liberal]

10. The Ukrainian Parliament is moving to outlaw opposition parties and censor the press.

As reported by RT News:

Among other bills the parliament is to consider are one outlawing Yanukovich’s Party of Regions and the Ukrainian Communist Party, both of which have elected MPs in the parliament. And another one seeks to censor Russian media, accusing them of biased reporting on the protests in Ukraine.

The new authorities in Kiev say they are seeking the arrest of former senior officials, like former Incomes Minister Aleksandr Klimenko and former Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka. Both were reportedly stopped on Saturday by border control due to lack of proper paperwork, as they were trying to leave Ukraine.

The legitimation of the power grab comes a day after several regions in eastern and southern Ukraine announced that they do not consider the Ukrainian parliament legitimate and would not abide by its orders. The regions also said they would be forming local militias to resist possible incursions of radical activists from western Ukraine and Kiev.

That didn't take long! I'm sure glad that awful Yanukovich "dictatorship" has been overthrown. (sigh)

Read more at: http://rt.com/news/ukraine-acting-president-yanukovich-339/

[Bad Thoughts]

12. According to the Russian Times?

Pass.

[another_liberal]

13. I guess censorship might be spreading faster than I realized?

Only protester supporting, Western media need be consulted, right?

Those nasty Russians don't have anything to offer anyway, do they?

[Bad Thoughts]

16. There are plenty of good leftist newspapers that provide critical perspective

Might I recommend Nouvel Observateur.

[another_liberal]

18. Thank you.

I will definitely check it out.

[dipsydoodle]

14. Yulia is also the Party of Regions.

Maybe she'll invent a new one She can't use the Right Sector that's already taken aside from which they don't believe in government period. The Right Sector were the ones at front line lobbing Molotov cocktails. Some of them appear to have taken what Che Guevara is quoted as having said to heart "The revolution lives on not in words to live for it, but in one's heart to die for it."

I've not noticed anything particulary biased or spun in the Russian media - seems to be straight forward publishing of facts.

[another_liberal]

17. I agree . . .

However, that kind of reporting can be rather inconvenient to some people and their interests.

[dipsydoodle]

19. Only those

in the habit of believing only what's in the US media that they chose to believe.

[dipsydoodle]

21. From their own local rag

Feb. 23, 2:35 a.m. In Kharkiv EuroMaidan rally was attacked by unknown men. The men drove two cars into the crowd of anti-government protesters and started shooting, reports local news website ATN. The people ran to the building of the governor's office to hide. At least two are wounded. -- Olga Rudenko

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv/euromaidan-rallies-in-ukraine-feb-21-live-updates-337287.html

Indicates similar protests in the east may be doomed to failure.

I doubt that much material to the situation will come about now until it becomes clear exactly who is going to bail them out just for the rest of this year. I doubt that Russia will do so now especially given they've already been downgraded to likely to default on current debt. The EU are pressing the IMF for assistance.

[Igel]

35. Lots of things can be proposed.

No need for any of them to be approved.

RT might miss this because of profound cultural differences. By and large, only what is to be proposed is presented in the Duma. If it's not allowed to be passed, if it's not required to be passed, it doesn't get proposed.

That's the sort of thing that the PR is saying now about Yanukovich: He basically forced them to do his bidding, to present bills to be passed and only allowing bills that he approved of.

That any of the 360 members might be allowed to propose things that will be ignored or handily voted down ... Chaos and disorder.

[another_liberal]

37. I didn't say all of those measures had been approved (though they may have by now) . . .

Neither did RT News say that. I said the truncated Parliament in Kiev had "moved" to do so, and they did.

[Coyotl]

23. Parliament voted remove Yanukovich from office, hours earlier he abandoned his office to protestors

Big change forced by popular uprising. But the change is coming from the intact democratic process, not the result of anarchy.

Friday video with recent days coverage: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/21/yulia-tymoshenko-freed-ukraine-parliament-votes_n_4831762.html

[stevenleser]

25. See my #20. I am not a Yanukovych fan and would like to see him gone but I am not sure

that the appropriate process has been completely followed.

[iamthebandfanman]

27. Yay! They put a bigot in charge!

"I do not agree. If a man has normal views, then you label him a conservative, but those who use drugs or promote sodomy – you label them a progressive person. All of these are perversions.” - Oleksandr Turchynov, 2007
Not to mention, wikileaks documents say hes worked with the CIA and has connections to mob bosses inside of Ukraine :p See guys, no more corruption now. Ha!

ive been warning people that this is a right wing coup :p

[stevenleser]

29. There are several problems with your assertions.

#1 - Your assertion implies they chose the person to succeed Yanukovych. They didnt 'choose' that person anymore than the congress here would 'choose' to put the Vice President in charge if they impeached and removed the President. That is who Consitutionally takes charge.
#2 - The Ukraine Constitution limits the powers of the person who takes charge for a removed President. That persons powers are extremely hobbled.
#3 - That person may not actually be in charge because whether the appropriate procedure has been followed to remove Yanukovych is very much in dispute.
#4 - All things are relative, no less in that part of the world. Again, your assertions make an implication that the person currently in charge is worse than the person that may have been removed. That would require proof that Yanukovych is better than Turchynov on LGBT rights issues and corruption. On the latter, I think it is clear that he isn't. On the former, he is a Putin acolyte so I think that is very much in doubt as well.

[another_liberal]

30. He is a good deal worse that just a bigot and a homophobe . . .

He and his political party are generally considered to be excessively nationalistic (to the exclusion of foreigners and ethnic groups other than Ukrainian) corporatist, and even borderline neofascist.

[Comrade Grumpy]

31. But long live the glorious revolution, right?

[another_liberal]

36. Considering what they have done so far . . .

I don't see much reason to cheer. They are a truncated parliament (representatives of Yanukovich's former ruling party have been forced to switch party allegiance, resign their office or flee for their lives) but in the last twenty-four hours they have nevertheless already moved to fundamentally change the national Constitution, impeach the democratically elected President, name his replacement, outlaw opposition parties, and censor any news reporting which is not sufficiently favorable to them and their actions.

That, my friend, is not what I would call progressive or liberal. At the very least, it's certainly not democratic.

[Dawson Leery]

32. I do NOT trust any of the parties involved.

The opposition is divided into at least 8 different fronts, all fighting for their own causes first. This is a far cry from the movements in India and South Africa where there was unity around a clearly defined cause.

[tabasco]

33. kyivpost.com is an excellent English language news site

I have learned so much reading their news and commentary.

They are really doing some great journalism.

[newthinking]

38. Sure, if you are looking to know from only one side/view

One huge problem has been that there have been few reporters reporting from east and south, except the Russian press.
I have relatives in Ukraine and there are very serious and legitimate problems with what is going on.

It looks like some of the western media has gone to Kharkiv and they have just started to show the protests that have been going on the other side. So maybe we will start to see some coverage (other than from Russia)

[tabasco]

42. The site provides the views of the Ukranian people

Not the Russian ass-lickers.

[Zorra]

39. I hope the people of the Ukraine find peace, freedom, justice, equality,

and abundance for themselves soon.

Because from my limited point of view, it all looks like a random chaotic mess with no clear goals and completely self-interested meglomaniacs scrambling for authoritarian control.

But I have absolutely no background in modern politics in the Ukraine.

[Ash_F]

40. Hope this can stem the violence. /nt