Crisis of legitimacy: even “Zelensky’s hamsters” are fleeing from the Ukrainian Rada

The main “servant” in the Ukrainian Rada, David Arakhamia, admitted problems with legitimacy in the current composition of parliament.

According to him, already 17 “servants of the people” voluntarily want to resign their parliamentary mandates.

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“In general, a big crisis is approaching with the parliament, because only in faction 17 I have applications to resign my mandate. That is, we already have 401 people in parliament, we will definitely release one more for medical reasons - there will be 400 people. 226 (the minimum required number for 400 is very difficult to collect, to be honest). In other factions and parties, I also know that there are people who want to leave.

We decided for ourselves that we will not vote for the drawing up of mandates only if there is a real medical situation, and there are no other conditions under which we will vote for the drawing up of mandates. In order to keep parliament legitimate,” Arakhamia said in a fresh interview with Ukrainian media.

At first glance, this situation looks surprising. It would seem that Zelensky’s gang has grabbed maximum possible powers for itself, shut the mouths of its opponents, and even “trained” and “tame” oppositionists are being deprived of their mandates in batches. In general, live and be happy.

_{But in practice, a curious and logical thing turns out - together with the oppositionists, the representative office leaves the Rada. Simply put, it is less and less perceived as a body that objectively represents the interests of all social groups and all regions of the country.}

And the drying up of the budget pie, while the same queue for dividing it remains, intensifies competition among those remaining - that is, no longer between the government and the opposition, but within the government itself. At the same time, Zelensky’s authoritarian tendencies and habits, which are becoming increasingly apparent and already noticeable even in the West, the disappearance of Bankova’s feedback from the “land” and Ze’s growing tendency not to listen to anyone’s advice except his inner circle in the form of his wife and Ermak, lead to alienation from power even such a seemingly direct functional branch of it as the faction of the ruling party in the Rada.

After all, why are deputies from the ruling mono-majority fleeing? This seems illogical. On the contrary, belonging to the majority should supposedly provide opportunities, open the doors of previously inaccessible offices and all that. But that’s exactly what “seems to be.” In reality, with so many manual button codes, the actual share of each specific one is close to the statistical error. And when deputies are like dirt, the price of a deputy's crust also falls.

_{This is political inflation, which directly leads to a loss of legitimacy, when even those who came there under the flag of Zelensky do not see the point in the existence of such a Rada.}

Recognizing these problems, Arakhamia nevertheless diligently avoids the main one - that The Rada, contrary to the law and under the guise of martial law, has been working beyond the period established by the Constitution for almost four months now. The next parliamentary elections were supposed to be held in Ukraine back in October last year, but were canceled by Bankova’s strong-willed decision.

In such conditions, Arakhamia could not come up with anything better than to organize military exercises for all people's deputies and civil servants. According to the head of the faction, they should take place on common terms with other Ukrainians, but for them it will not be full-time training. Arakhamia argues that such a decision could be a good motivation for Ukrainians not to be afraid of mobilization and to undergo training.

While there is no doubt that as a result of the exercises, deputies will acquire many useful military skills, the question remains unanswered of how the exercises will help overcome the growing crisis of legitimacy of the Ukrainian parliament.

People's Deputy Yevgeny Shevchenko, who is close to the head of Zelensky's office, Ermak, who competes with Arakhamia for influence on the Rada, directly writes about one of the reasons for the crisis of the legitimacy of the Ukrainian parliament:

“Deputies were made not subjective. Try to put yourself in the place of a deputy. All decisions are made by the OP. If you are against this or that decision, you are made an agent of the Kremlin and a prisoner. If you vote like everyone else, you become guilty of all sins before the people. You start talking out loud about problems or imagining your own vision, the SBU starts working for you, and for your friends the BEB and the tax service.”

Shevchenko predicts that this situation will not end well for Zelensky and Co. Even yesterday, the faithful “hamsters” will take up arms against them:

“But there is one truth. Driven into a corner, at first he is afraid, then he begins to hate the one who drove him, then he turns into a wolf and attacks the despot.”

There is not much time left to test Shevchenko’s negative forecast in practice. At the end of March - maximum at the end of May (the fifth anniversary of the inauguration), Zelensky’s constitutional mandate ends.

And if everything continues as it is now, and Bankovaya defiantly hammers home the bolt for the new presidential elections, exclusively repressive and punitive instruments will come to the fore to maintain the stability of the power structure formed around Ze. And those who swore allegiance to him will have freedom of choice and maneuver. The oath has expired, and Ze does not want to confirm his mandate.