Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine[g] (often as Verkhovna Rada or simply Rada) is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine.
This article is about the Ukrainian parliament. For the Crimean regional legislature, see Verkhovna Rada of Crimea.
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
Верховна Рада України
1991[1]
450
Government (235)
- Servant of the People (235)
Supported by (36)
- For the Future (17)[a]
- Dovira (19)[b]
Opposition (71)
- European Solidarity (27)
- Batkivshchyna (24)
- Holos (20)[d]
Others (63)
- Platform for Life and Peace (22)[e]
- Restoration of Ukraine (17)
- Independent (24)[f]
Vacant (46)
- Vacant (46)
Parallel voting:
First past the post (225 seats)
Party-list proportional representation (225 seats) with 5% electoral threshold
Unknown (initially the election was scheduled to take place by 29 October 2023, but martial law was extended to 13 February 2024)
The Verkhovna Rada has over 450 deputies, who are presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capital Kyiv. The deputies elected on 21 July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election were inaugurated on 29 August 2019.[12]
The Verkhovna Rada developed out of the systems of the republican representative body known in the Soviet Union as Supreme Soviet (Supreme Council) that was first established on 26 June 1938 as a type of legislature of the Ukrainian SSR after the dissolution of the Congress of Soviets of the Ukrainian SSR.[13]
The 12th convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR (elected in 1990) issued the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine,[13] introduced elements of a market economy and political liberalization, and officially changed the numeration of its sessions,[13] proclaiming itself the first convocation of the "Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine".[13] The current parliament is the ninth convocation. Because of the war in Donbas and the unilateral annexation of Crimea by Russia, elections for the constituencies situated in Donbas and Crimea were not held in the 2014 and 2019 elections; hence the current composition of the Verkhovna Rada consists of 424 deputies.[9][10][11]
In the last elections to the Verkhovna Rada, a mixed voting system is used. 50% of seats are distributed under party lists with a 5% election threshold and 50% through first-past-the-post in single-member constituencies.[14][15] The method of 50/50 mixed elections was used in 2002, 2012, 2014 and 2019 elections; however, in 2006 and 2007, the elections were held under a proportional system only.[16] According to the election law that became valid on 1 January 2020, the next election to the Verkhovna Rada, set to be held after the Russian invasion of Ukraine ends, again will be held under a proportional scheme.[17]
Name[edit]
The name Rada (Ukrainian: Рада) means "council". The institution originated in the time of Kievan Rus' and then represented a council of boyars and of the higher clergy.[18] In the 17th and 18th centuries the Dnieper Cossacks used the term to refer to the meetings where major decisions were made; the Cossacks elected new councils by popular vote.[19] The Ukrainian People's Republic between 17 March 1917 and 29 April 1918 had a Central Rada.[20] The West Ukrainian People's Republic and the Ukrainian government-in-exile each had a UNRada (Ukrainian National Rada).
The current name of the parliament derives from the Soviet practice of calling national parliament and parliaments of its constituent republics Supreme Soviets (Russian: Верховный совет, romanized: Verkhovnyy soviet). Like in many other Soviet republics, Verkhovna Rada is a localized version of this term used in the Ukrainian SSR. After Ukraine regained independence in 1991, the term Verkhovnaya Rada (Russian: Верховная Рада) had been in use in both Russian and Ukrainian-based russophone media as a loan translation of the Ukrainian term. Verkhovna, the feminine form of the adjective "верховний" meaning supreme, derives from the Ukrainian word "верх" meaning "top".
Another name, used less commonly, is the Parliament of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Парламент України).