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UKRAINE-POLITICS-PRESIDENT LEAD
Ukraine’s new president Zelensky announces dissolution of parliament
KIEV, May 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Volodymyr Zelensky, a 41-year-old comedian
who took office as Ukraine’s president on Monday, announced the dissolution
of parliament in his inaugural speech in order to hold early elections.
“I dissolve the Verkhovna Rada of the eighth convocation,” the newly
sworn-in president said during the ceremony in parliament in Kiev. The next
parliamentary polls had been scheduled for October.
Zelensky does not command majority support in the current parliament and
has wrangled with hostile lawmakers whom he accused of deliberately delaying
his inauguration and called “petty crooks.”
Ahead of his inauguration, Zelensky had already threatened to launch the
highly complex process of dissolving parliament and calling new elections in
order to benefit from his current popularity.
His team said in a statement on Friday that the country needs “a
parliament that functions.”
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1428 hrs