Razumkov: To avoid discrepancies about president's legitimacy, it was necessary to obtain clarification from Constitutional Court long ago
To avoid any discrepancies regarding the legitimacy of the president of Ukraine, five years after he took the oath, it was necessary to obtain an explanation from the Constitutional Court last year, Head of the Reasonable Policy Inter-factional Union Dmytro Razumkov (independent) has said.
"They [authorities] should have gone to the Constitutional Court back in 2023 and received this conclusion so that there would be no discrepancies. After all, someone believes that it is necessary to transfer powers to [Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan] Stefanchuk, someone believes that the powers of the president are extended until the end of martial law, but there is no clear answer in the Constitution. Everyone can read it differently. An appeal to the Constitutional Court would resolve this issue... And there would be a piece of paper that says: this and that must be done," he told the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency.
According to Razumkov, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should have personally addressed the Constitutional Court for clarification.
"It was necessary [...] to appeal to the Constitutional Court. Moreover, to appeal to the president so that the mono-majority or the opposition would not do this, otherwise it would be perceived as a political story. [...] The president should have done this in order to receive appropriate clarifications and clearly move further within the framework of these clarifications," the MP said.
According to Razumkov, the Constitutional Court's interpretation of the provision on the presidential term would not lead to any negative consequences within Ukraine, while the absence of such an interpretation could create "additional turbulence" outside Ukraine.
"And this will not be a question for President Zelenskyy or anyone else. This [...] may be a question for Ukraine. And I would like there to be fewer such questions for which we do not have clear legal answers," he said.
As reported by the media, Stefanchuk previously stated that the issue of the powers of the president and the terms of his tenure are spelled out in the Constitution of Ukraine.
"We have no doubt that President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy is legitimate. Anyone who does not have such confidence should go to the Constitutional Court. The basis for our confidence is the Constitution of Ukraine, which clearly states that the powers of the president end on the day when the next president of Ukraine takes office. At the same time, the Ukrainian law on the legal regime of martial law says that elections cannot be held during martial law," he said.
Zelenskyy, who won the presidential election, took office on May 20, 2019.
According to Article 103 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the president is elected on the basis of general, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot for a period of five years, and the next presidential elections are held in the last week of March of the fifth year of the presidential term. Article 108 of the Basic Law provides that the president exercises his powers until the newly elected president assumes office.
In accordance with the law on the legal regime of martial law, holding elections of the president of Ukraine under martial law is prohibited (Article 19). The same law specifies that "if the term of office of the president of Ukraine ends during martial law, his powers continue until the entry of the newly elected president of Ukraine, chosen after the lifting of martial law."
Martial law in the country has been in effect since February 24, 2022, the day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.
Razumkov headed the list of the Servant of the People political party in early elections to the Verkhovna Rada in 2019. He served as the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada from August 29, 2019 to October 7, 2021.