Razumkov suspended from holding parliament meetings

Ukrainian MPs have suspended Verkhovna Rada Chairman Dmytro Razumkov from holding plenary parliament sittings.

Some 240 MPs voted for such a decision at a parliament meeting on Tuesday, October 5, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

The proposal was initiated by members of the Servant of the People faction and the Dovira (Trust) and For the Future Party parliamentary groups.

They said that Razumkov had allegedly violated the parliament's rules of procedure.

Servant of the People MPs at a two-day field meeting in Truskavets on October 2 collected the 150 signatures needed to initiate the removal of Verkhovna Rada Chairman Dmytro Razumkov from office. According to Yuliia Paliichuk, spokeswoman for the Servant of the People faction, some 197 signatures of MPs were collected to remove Razumkov from the post of parliament speaker.

Oleksandr Korniienko, head of the party and first deputy chairman of the Servant of the People faction, said that a vote to remove Razumkov from office could take place during the current plenary week (October 5-8).

Razumkov said at a briefing on October 4 that he would not delay the process of considering this issue, but stressed that it is impossible to do so in the week of October 5-8 in accordance with the deadlines set by the rules of procedure.

The main candidate for the post of head of the Ukrainian parliament is Ruslan Stefanchuk, the incumbent first deputy speaker of parliament.