Servants of Pandora
Ukraine's dead-end democracy
Dear colleagues, you and I have seen a lot of cynicism, manipulation and distortion in this Parliament. But, really, I don't think we’ve witnessed anything like today. I think that the Ukrainian people have never seen such a thing.
I would like to remind all those who have now merged in political ecstasy to defend, so to speak, the Rules of Procedure, that, in general, the oldest democracy is the British one, and the strongest democracy is the American one. What will the people who founded modern democracy say? There is a saying in the United States: The will of Congress is supreme.
We are a Parliament with you, friends. We have the right, given to us by the people of Ukraine, to make the decisions we deem necessary. We can change the Rules of Procedure with you. We may, within the framework of the Rules of Procedure, take such decisions as we deem appropriate.
When, dear opponents, you will have a majority - spoiler: you will not have a majority - then you will be able to make your own decisions.
Today, the will of the Parliament of Ukraine formed by the Servant of the People faction is supreme. This is true. This is a political fact. Accept it. We have a mandate of the people's trust to make those decisions we consider useful for the country. Democracy is not under threat. It is under our protection, I assure you. - MP Nikita Poturaev (Servant of the People faction), Verkhovna Rada, October 5, 2021
Simple majorities are meant to decide who should enforce objectively defined laws, not to rubber stamp kooky proposals suggested by the clique in power at the moment. Lawmakers realized this and instituted a system of 'checks and balances' designed to protect the minority against an unchecked majority.
They called the system Rules of Procedure.