There are many Ukrainian lawmakers who want to resign from their positions before the end of their terms, David Arakhamia, head of President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the People faction in parliament, said on national television on Dec. 11.
Other members of parliament do not allow them to resign because they need to pass laws necessary for the nation, he said.
If a Ukrainian MP submits his or her resignation, it must be approved or rejected by a majority of MPs.
According to the Chesno non-profit, a record 17 lawmakers have been stripped of their mandates since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. Nearly all of them belong to the pro-Russian Opposition Platform-For Life party.
When a mandate is removed, elections must be held in the district, which is not possible during wartime.
Before February 2022, Ukraine's parliament was already short 27 members because the 2014 and 2019 elections in Russian-occupied areas in the Donbas and Crimea were suspended.
Currently, Ukraine's parliament has 400 members, but by law there should be 450.
The shortage of required lawmakers and existing minimum threshold of parliamentary factions is affecting the parliament's functioning, Arakhamia said.
Experts told the Ukrainian new site Zn.ua that the shortage of members is still far from critically harming the ability of the parliament to vote on important issues.
Arakhamia and other lawmakers have suggested a change to the parliamentary rules that would set the minimum size of a faction in parliament at 14 members, which he said would help preserve smaller factions.
Daria Shulzhenko
(Updated: )
