Constitutional crisis: Zelenskiy makes a try to dissolve the Constitutional court

UKRAINE - In Brief 30 Oct 2020 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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The Constitutional court ruling, which canceled e-declarations, unleashed a full-fledged constitutional crisis in the country. In light of the harsh reaction of society and western partners, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called yesterday for an urgent meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. At the meeting the Constitutional court ruling was criticized and was defined as one that undermines fundamentals of the state. Zelenskiy claimed that “We do not understand what to expect from the Constitutional Court tomorrow or the day after tomorrow”. The President ordered to restore e-declarations and the activities of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) thus ignoring the Constitutional court ruling. Also he requested to submit to parliament a draft law on restoring trust in the constitutional judiciary. The draft was compiled and submitted to the legislature immediately (On the restoring of public confidence in the constitutional judiciary). The draft law claims that judges made the decision while being in conflict of interests (some judges were under investigation by the NAPC). The draft law blames the judges of the Constitutional court of an attempt at a coup d'etat. It presumes the immediate dismissal of the judges and claims to void their decision on e-declarations. For sure, this move is illegal because neither the president nor Verkhovna Rada could dismiss judges of the Constitutional court before their term expires. Also none could cancel a decision of the Constitutional court. Put it differently, any move around this story sinks us deeply into a serious constitutional crisis. Nevertheless, very likely the draft law will b...