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Missing image Verkhovna_Rada_inside.jpg Verkhovna Rada. 2004 Missing image VRU_Jan23_2005_results.jpg Verkhovna Rada. 2005 Inauguration Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Верховна Рада України in Ukrainian) (literally "Supreme Council of Ukraine" in English) is the official name of Ukraine's parliament. This name originates from a Soviet political tradition where a vertical system of Soviets (councils) existed. The modern Verkhovna Rada is the official successor of the Ukrainian SSR's republican legislature (which had the same name), which proclaimed Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The national Verkhovna Rada should not be confused with the Crimean Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian: Верховна Рада Автономної Республіки Крим) - the legislature of Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
Mission and authorityThe Verkhovna Rada is the sole body of legislative power in Ukraine. The parliament determines the principles of domestic and foreign policy, introduces amendments to the constitution, adopts laws, approves the state budget, designates elections of the President of Ukraine, impeaches the president, declares war and peace, gives consent to the appointment of the Prime Minister of Ukraine, appoints or approves appointment of certain officials, appoints one-third of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, elects judges for permanent terms, ratifies and denounces international treaties, and exercises certain control functions. CompositionThe Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral legislature with 450 deputies (Ukrainian singular: народний депутат, narodnyy deputat) elected on the basis of equal and direct universal suffrage through a secret ballot. The parliament elects from among its ranks the Chairman (Speaker, Ukrainian: Голова Верховної Ради), the First Deputy Chairman, the Deputy Chairman. The Chairman presides at parliamentary meetings, signs parliamentary acts, organises staff work, etc. The deputies possess a full personal legal immunity during the term of office. On the one hand, this may help certain individuals to avoid the criminal responsibility. On the other hand, the immunity serves as a guarantee for the existence of opposition. ElectionsDramatic political development of Ukraine has caused recurrent changes of the parliamentary electoral system. Each convocation of the Verkhovna Rada has been elected under a different law (gradually evolving from a pure majoritarian scheme of the Soviet time to a pure proportional scheme effective in 2006 under the transitional provisions of the constitutional amendments). The acting parliament was formed in 2002 according to a mixed majoritarian and proportional representation system. Under the election law of 2001 (as well as the previous electoral law of 1997), 225 of the Rada's seats were allocated on a proportional basis to those parties that gained 4% of the national vote in the parliamentary elections of 2002. The other 225 members were elected by popular vote in single-mandate constituencies. Elections results and seats controlled 2002 Ukrainian parliamentary election (31 March 2002), percent of vote by party:
Seats by party/faction: (as of the autumn of 2004, may rapidly change)
1998 Ukrainian parliamentary election (29 March 1998), percent of vote by party:
Seats by party/faction (as of 25 February 2000):
Meeting placeMissing image Verkhovna_Rada_face.jpg Building of the Verkhovna Rada. Facade The parliament meets in a neo-classical building on Kyiv's Hrushevs'koho St., which adjoins a picturesque park and the rastrelliesque 18th century Mariyins'ky Palace (the ceremonial residence of the President). Missing image Verkhovna_Rada_back.jpg Building of the Verkhovna Rada. Back See also
External link
nl:Verchovna Rada no:Verkhovna Rada pl:Rada Najwyższa Ukrainy uk:Верховна Рада України |
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