Volodymyr B. Groysman, who is a former speaker of the Parliament and an ally of President Petro O. Poroshenko, was elected as the country’s new prime minister this Thursday.
Groysman will be replacing Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, who resigned back on Sunday to his charge due to the fact that he could never that he couldn’t manage the fractured Parliament and be in disagreement with President Petro O. Poroshenko, even being praised by the West of the country.
Previously, the government was changed back in 2014 where the Russian-aligned president Viktor F. Yanukovych was getting over a wave of popular anger due to his authoritarian government and corruption. But it burst into a fight among the victors, paralyzing the government and later paralyzing to the aid from the International Monetary Fund leaving, them on a “checkmate”.
At first, Groysman wasn’t “too reliable” since some pro-European lawmakers complained the concentration in Ukraine’s business and political clans, that had led before in the country to a large-scale corruption.
A New Twist on the Power
Three of five parties that favor close ties with Europe are now in an open position against the government of Poroshenko, and the other two pro-European parties supported the candidate.
There were other changes on Mr. Poroshenko’s line that included Oleksandr Danylyuk, who was previously the deputy head of Petro’s administration, was named the minister of finance, replacing Natalia Yaresko, who inspected the bailout negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and foreign creditors.
Also, the Parliament elected as its new speaker Andriy Parubiy, who is an organizer of antigovernment street fighters back in 2014, being an uprising and a highly polarizing figure in Ukraine’s east-west divide.
Grossman’s votes were 257 to 50, giving him a really wide victory that could help him go through Ukraine’s complex politics with more success than his predecessor.
Analysts say they doubt he has the political backing, even from the two parties that openly support him, to carry out a badly needed economic overhaul and a peace agreement, known as Minsk II, with Russia and Russian-backed militants in eastern Ukraine, as demanded by the country’s Western allies.
Even when Groysman was greeted on his election with shouts by his opponents of “Shame! Shame!” in the Parliament, he seemed to take that in stride, saying in his acceptance speech that “All these discussions in this hall will go down in history as just words.” He also added that the shame was on those who, in 24 years haven’t given the people a good life.
Source: Haaretz