The Supreme Court of Ukraine has opened a case against the Verkhovna Rada over the failure to appoint presidential elections in Ukraine

The Supreme Court has initiated proceedings on a lawsuit against the Verkhovna Rada, demanding to recognize its inaction regarding the failure to appoint presidential elections in Ukraine on March 31, 2024, as unlawful and to obligate the parliament to appoint presidential elections by adopting a relevant resolution.

The lawsuit was filed by Chernihiv resident Oleh Serik.

The lawsuit states that the presidential elections took place on March 31, 2019, and Volodymyr Zelensky took the oath as head of state on May 20, 2019.

Starting from May 21, 2019, the countdown of the five-year term of the President of Ukraine established by the Constitution of Ukraine began.

Thus, according to the lawsuit, the term of office of the president established by the Basic Law expires on May 21, 2024.

However, as the plaintiff writes, the Verkhovna Rada, endowed with exclusive powers to appoint regular presidential elections in Ukraine, contrary to the provisions of paragraph 7 of the first part of Article 85 of the Constitution, did not appoint elections within the legislatively defined terms.

The plaintiff considers the aforementioned inaction of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine unlawful and violating the rights of a significant number of individuals to participate in the electoral process.

The court has decided to initiate proceedings on the lawsuit.

The Verkhovna Rada has been given 15 days to provide explanations within the framework of the proceedings, after which the plaintiff will have an additional 3 days to respond to these explanations.

It is worth noting that there is a discussion in Ukraine regarding the legitimacy of President Zelensky after May 20, 2024, when the five-year term of his constitutional powers expires. His opponents insist that after this date, he can no longer perform the duties of the president.

However, such an interpretation is rejected on Bankova Street, and reference is made to an article of the Constitution according to which the president continues to perform his duties until the new president takes office. Those who speak of illegitimacy are accused of spreading “Kremlin narratives.” We covered this issue in more detail here.