The Lawmaking Crisis in Ukraine

The ninth convocation of the Verkhovna Rada is unique for Ukraine for several reasons. During the elections, a mono-majority was formed for the first time: the Servant of the People party, having received an unprecedentedly high percentage of votes in the parliamentary elections, gained the opportunity to govern without forming coalition alliances for the first time.

This convocation also faced the challenge of full-scale invasion. MPs convened to declare martial law within hours of the war’s outbreak. Ultimately, the deputies of the ninth convocation became the first to work indefinitely, as elections are impossible during wartime. 

Since 2015, we have evaluated reformist legislative initiatives and calculated the MP Efficiency Score based on how lawmakers support reforms. Now, we have a unique opportunity to analyze how tragic yet unprecedented events impact MPs’ work.

As of mid-2024, the average level of reform support among Verkhovna Rada deputies has decreased from 70% to 66%. Meanwhile, the number of anti-reform MPs within the mono-majority has increased—15 deputies supported less than 40% of the reforms they theoretically could have voted for. The share of reformist MPs (those who support almost all reforms) has declined from 38% to 22%. 

There are objective reasons for Parliament’s decline in efficiency. Today, the Verkhovna Rada operates with the smallest composition in the history of independent Ukraine—only 401 deputies—and within the longest convocation, lasting nearly six years. The ongoing martial law makes it impossible to hold elections, including by-elections.

In 2019, only 424 MPs were elected instead of the stipulated 450. 26 seats remained vacant because elections were not held in the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. 

Over the past five years, 53 MPs have left Parliament for various reasons. Among them, 40 deputies resigned voluntarily: 21 moved to work in the government, 10 left due to personal reasons, and nine members of the former Opposition Platform – For Life (OPFL) faction formally resigned but, in reality, fled the country to avoid accountability for their anti-Ukrainian activities. Additionally, six deputies were stripped of their citizenship, and four passed away. The next candidates on the list fill vacant seats in party lists; however, replacing single-member district MPs is impossible until martial law is lifted. This situation poses additional risks for parliamentary operations, as the Constitution requires at least 300 deputies for Parliament to remain legitimate. 

Another critical aspect of the current Parliament’s work is the de facto collapse of the mono-majority. The Servant of the People faction, which initially had 254 MPs, now consists of 232, which is insufficient for independent decision-making. Throughout the entire ninth convocation, only 2% of decisions were passed solely by the “Servants,” most of them during the first six months of operation—the so-called “turbo mode.” By 2020, the mono-majority had already started losing its effectiveness.

During the ninth convocation, when voting on bills “as a whole,” the “Servants” provided an average of 200 votes out of the 226 required. In 2024, this number fluctuated between 180-190 votes. Even on matters of critical importance, such as amendments to the Budget Code, the mono-majority could not pass them independently. Moreover, out of the over 4,000 legislative initiatives submitted by the mono-majority, only 18% became law. The reason for this lies in the lack of a guaranteed 226 votes from a single faction and the low quality of the proposed bills, a concern that we previously highlighted. 

Today, to pass legislation, the “Servants” form situational coalitions by involving MPs from other factions and groups. The most frequent supporters in voting come from the Dovira and For Future factions, as well as former members of the now-banned Opposition Platform – For Life party. These former OPFL members began voting in unison with the mono-majority after Russia’s full-scale invasion. However, the results of the latest MP Efficiency Rankings indicate that the enthusiasm of former OPFL representatives is waning. During the latest 11th session, members of the Platform for Life and Peace (PFLP) faction attended Parliament but stopped supporting reforms. While their reform support rate was 69% during the 9th session and 64% in the 10th session, it dropped to 45% in the 11th session (see the graph). This means that moving forward, the Servant of the People faction must negotiate with the opposition to pass legislation. In principle, this is not necessarily a bad development, as it could encourage discussions in Parliament and keep the country’s political life active.

Moreover, discussing legislative proposals with the opposition could improve their quality. Unlike government bills, which go through numerous stages of coordination and consultations within ministries and mandatory public discussions, parliamentary bills lack such a filtering process. Therefore, it is unsurprising that government-initiated bills comprise only 14% of the total (compared to 60-90% in other countries). Another way to improve the quality of legislation is to amend the Regulations of the Verkhovna Rada by introducing a requirement for mandatory consultations with the government and more in-depth work within committees. This could involve engaging research institutions, think tanks, and experts from various fields in the drafting process for certain socially significant initiatives, such as pension reform, mandatory public discussions could be introduced. This would help enhance the quality of legislative proposals and ensure they better align with the real needs of society.