Political Protests: Interim Results

UKRAINE - In Brief 18 Oct 2017 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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Political protests on October 17 have impressed the authorities. The downtown of the city was flooded with police and military. And it looks like police exceeded the number of protesters. The very action was predominantly peaceful except for few minor clashes. Recall the protestors demand (a) anti-corruption court, (b) change of the election law (open lists of candidates) and (c) cancellation of immunity for MPs. As soon as the action started and it was clear that protestors are numerous President Office informed that a draft law on cancelation of MPs immunity was submitted to the parliament. The draft law presumes that immunity will be abolished from 2020. President Poroshenko from all demands selected the least painful to show that he complies with demands. However, protesters were not satisfied with partial solution and hundreds stayed on the streets overnight. Insiders report Poroshenko is absolutely serious to cancel MPs immunity but he is not ready for anti-corruption court and revision of election legislation. The authorities are trying to stall for time hoping that protests will evaporate in few days or will ease to the level they could be ignored. Sudden readiness to push forward healthcare reform appeared to be one of the ways to delay time. Yesterday the Speaker of the parliament put healthcare reform on agenda and MPs started working with comments to this document. It’s very convenient excuse why parliament does not work with political demands – because it’s busy with badly needed healthcare legislation. In fact, I must recognize that results of the protests are much better than I expected (even by now). The action goes smoothly and leaders of the protests ...