Ukrainian MPs gearing up for election are traitors – ex-president

Holding elections in Ukraine would deal a blow to national unity and “ruin the state,” the country’s former president, Pyotr Poroshenko, has claimed. His attack was directed at lawmakers, whom he branded a “Russian fifth column.”

The government has suspended elections in the country citing martial law. The terms of members of the national parliament and Vladimir Zelensky’s presidency expired earlier this year. The Ukrainian constitution allows MPs to remain in office during wartime but does not specifically mention the president in such a case.

Poroshenko, who leads the European Solidarity party and is one of its serving MPs, lashed out at fellow lawmakers during an interview on Wednesday, calling their actions behind closed doors “a shame for Ukraine.”

“We need to stop wasting time on empty bubbling, on embezzlement, on non-consequential performances at the parliament,” he said, suggesting that members of his party are not engaged in such activities, unlike their competition.

The legislative body now “stinks of election” he fumed. By preparing for a possible national poll, “a union of the enemies from the Russian fifth column and the mono-majority are destroying the nation every day,” he alleged.

In 2019, Zelensky’s Servant of the People party won 254 places in the 450-seat parliament and did not need a coalition partner to form a government. Poroshenko’s party secured 25 seats that year.

Some MPs have since been stripped of their authority, resigned, or otherwise left their elected offices. Just 401 are officially listed as still on the rolls, with roughly 360 reportedly actively participating in sessions.

Most bills require a minimum of 226 votes to pass in the chamber. David Arakhamia, who leads Zelensky’s party in parliament, has complained of struggling to meet that benchmark.

If an official election campaign were to start now “that would mean the death of unity,” Poroshenko claimed, adding that “unity is the key factor of our victory [against Russia].”

He urged a vote on a bill he had introduced to make it easier for the parliament to expel a member. If passed, alleged traitors could simply be ousted, Poroshenko said. Then a “coalition of national unity” could form a new government, in which jobs would be given “to professionals and not amateurs, people hungry for approval ratings, and show script writers.”

Zelensky gained fame as a popular comedian and producer before making a surprise turn into a politics in 2019.