Signatures are being collected in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for a draft law "On the President of Ukraine."
Deputy Chair of the Verkhovna Rada, Oksana Syroid, made a corresponding announcement from the parliament rostrum on Thursday, April 11, according to an UNIAN correspondent.
She noted that the reason there were so few deputies in the session hall was not only the fact that amendments to the draft law on the functioning of the Ukrainian language was on the agenda, but also because the first polls were released earlier on Thursday regarding the ratings of presidential candidates ahead of the election runoff.
Syroid noted that earlier, the parliament had amended 72 laws where presidential powers were exceeded. According to the Deputy Speaker, this concerns not only the incumbent president, who took over some functions of parliament, but also the previous leaders.
Read alsoFresh poll sets Zelensky as runoff winner
Syroid stressed the need for a law that would fix the issue.
"In Ukraine, there is no normal balance of power, there is no normal system of checks and balances," Syroid said.
"We are starting to collect signatures for the draft law on the President of Ukraine, which is written in no one's favor and against no one. It is prepared to develop the Ukrainian state and to protect the freedom of every Ukrainian from the arbitrariness of a single person who one day he will take up the president's office," she said.
Commenting on Syroid's statement, parliament Speaker Andriy Paruby noted that “the Ukrainian parliament must be supported,” as it should have powers to execute checks and balances.