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Ukraine's election body strips two MPs of parliament seats

They are expelled from parliament despite the absence of the law to this effect.

Ukraine's election body strips two MPs of parliament seats
Yehor Firsov
Photo: Serhiy Nuzhnenko

The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has recognized as legitimate the controversial decision of the president's Petro Poroshenko Bloc (PPB) to strip MPs Yegor Firsov and Mykola Tomenko of parliament seats. They were elected to parliament on the party's list but later left its faction.

CEC deputy head Andriy Mahera told RBC-Ukraine that the party's decision was in line with the law in effect.

"The party has the right to take this decision in line with clause 6 part 2 of Article 81 of the Constitution of Ukraine, clause 6.1 of the motivation of the Constitutional Court ruling No 12 in 2008," he said.

Later in the day the CEC endorsed the party's decision and registered Oleksandr Bryhynets and Dmytro Bilotserkovets as new MPs, according to the Ukrainian News agency.

Mykola Tomenko left the faction on 23 February in protest against what he described as reformatting of the coalition.

Firsov quit on 8 February following Economic Development Aivaras Abromavicius's allegations of influence peddling against senior PPB MP Ihor Kononenko.

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