Home › Politics › Zelensky dissolves parliament and calls snap election
Zelensky dissolves parliament and calls snap election
Summary
A look back at the decree of 21 May 2019 that ended the eighth Verkhovna Rada's mandate and set an early vote for 21 July.
What did Ukraine's new president do with his first full day in office? On 21 May 2019, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree ending the powers of the eighth-convocation Verkhovna Rada and calling early parliamentary elections for 21 July 2019.
The decree followed his inauguration on 20 May 2019, when the Verkhovna Rada swore in the former comedian and reality television actor as the sixth President of Ukraine. As reported at the time, Zelensky announced the dissolution of parliament and the snap election during that same ceremony, so the decree of 21 May put the announcement into formal effect.
Government reaction
The move drew an immediate response from the executive. On 20 May 2019, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said he would resign on Wednesday, 22 May, in response to the new president's disbanding of parliament.
What the new date changed
The election had originally been scheduled for the end of October. The decree brought it forward to 21 July 2019, a few months earlier than planned.
What followed
The vote took place on the date the decree set, 21 July 2019. Zelensky's Servant of the People party won an outright majority of seats, taking 254.
The decree of 21 May 2019 was therefore the step that moved the country from a presidential inauguration to an early parliamentary contest within two months.
