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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 21 May 2019

Ukraine president takes political stage in dramatic fashion

By NATALIYA VASILYEVA the 41-year-old Zelenskiy
EFREM LUKATSKY upended other Ukrainian
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — political traditions on inau-
Ukraine's new president, guration day.
a comedian before he He ditched the idea of a
turned to statecraft, made traditional motorcade to
a dramatic entrance to his inauguration, walking
the political stage Monday to the parliament in Kiev
by disbanding parliament through a park packed with
minutes after his inaugura- people. Flanked by four
tion. bodyguards, the beaming
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who president-elect gave high-
won 73% of the vote last fives to some spectators,
month, justified his con- even stopping to take a
tentious decision on the selfie with one of them.
grounds that the legisla- At the end of his swearing-
ture, controlled by allies in ceremony, Zelenskiy
of the man he defeated, asked the Supreme Rada
is riddled with self-enrich- to adopt a bill against il-
ment. legal enrichment and sup-
Elections to the Supreme port his motions to fire the
Rada were scheduled for country's defense minister,
Oct. 27, which raised the the head of the Ukrainian
prospect of Zelenskiy strug- New Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, left, walks after inauguration ceremony in Kiev, Security Service (SBU) and
gling to enact his agenda Ukraine, Monday, May 20, 2019. the Prosecutor General.
in the face of a hostile par- Associated Press All are allies of Zelenskiy's
liament over his first few predecessor, Petro Porosh-
months in power. nities for kickbacks, money the ruling parliamentary kiy's announcement shows enko.
A snap parliamentary elec- laundering and corruption." coalition. According to par- "political will for radical That's when he dropped his
tion will be held within two Zelenskiy's efforts follow re- liamentary rules, the cham- change." bombshell about dissolving
months of his signing a for- peated attempts by the ber can't be dissolved for "The legally dubious deci- parliament. Zelenskiy told
mal dissolution decree. majority in the current par- 30 days after the govern- sion to disband parliament lawmakers they only have
Zelenskiy, a comedian who liament to stymie his cam- ing coalition has been dis- will certainly be contested a few weeks to support his
played the role of a Ukraini- paign promise for a new banded. in court but Zelenskiy has motions, as that's as long as
an president on a popular election. Zelenskiy's supporters argue shown that it is going to the current parliament has.
TV show for years, is gam- Since last month's election, that the Rada's actions are be him who will lay down Two of the three officials
bling that his popularity will Zelenskiy's opponents in the legally void because the the agenda and that he he has asked to leave, De-
see the next parliament Rada sought to put off the coalition had long ceased will dominate the political fense Minister Stepan Pol-
dominated by supporters inauguration close to the to exist and that the Ukrai- landscape," he said. torak and SBU chief Vasyl
of his agenda to reform May 27 deadline by which nian Constitution, unlike the Zelenskiy's landslide victory Grytsak, promptly handed
Ukraine and steer a new the parliament can be dis- Rada regulations, doesn't reflected Ukrainians' ex- in their resignations.
path with Russia. solved. contain such a rule. haustion with widespread Later, Prime Minister
Zelenskiy said Ukrainian And in a dramatic move Volodymyr Fesenko, head corruption and the coun- Volodymyr Groysman said
politics for the past quarter- last week, the Rada an- of the Kiev-based think- try's political elite. Before he would resign Wednes-
century created "opportu- nounced the collapse of tank Penta, said Zelens- disbanding parliament, day. q