Rada's leadership continues to suppress cases of button-pushing - Razumkov
The number of cases of non-personal voting (the so-called button-pushing) in the Verkhovna Rada of the IX convocation has decreased, but they still exist and the parliament leadership is working to eradicate this practice, speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov said.
"We arranged it so that button-pushing became an exceptional phenomenon within the walls of the Verkhovna Rada of the IX convocation. This applies to all parliamentary factions and groups, this is almost nonexistent, but we are not satisfied with 'almost'," Razumkov said at a meeting of the conciliatory council of leaders of parliamentary factions and groups on Monday.
The speaker said that "something" has already been done to the Verkhovna Rada at the technical level so that there are no cases of button-pushing.
"All free seats, which some people very often tried to use, are turned off in the hall of the Verkhovna Rada [...] As of today, a mechanism is being worked out that will allow an MP to vote exclusively from his or her seat. And after the new 'Rada' system is launched, when such an opportunity appears [...] it will actually eliminate the possibility of button-pushing by 100%," Razumkov said.
He also said that additional surveillance cameras will be installed in the conference room.
The speaker also said that amendments to the legislation are being prepared, in particular to the regulations of the Verkhovna Rada, related to disciplinary punishment of MPs, "not within the Criminal Code, but within the limits of possibilities of the Verkhovna Rada." According to Razumkov, such opportunities include depriving MPs of an opportunity to participate in plenary meetings and withholding wages.