What did Kyiv's new parliament mean after 26 July 2019?
A look back at the days around the Rada election and the call between the US and Ukrainian presidents.
What did Ukraine's political landscape look like on 26 July 2019? It had just been reshaped by a parliamentary election held on 21 July, and a phone call between two presidents was part of the news from the day before.
The vote followed the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada by President Volodymyr Zelensky in May. As the background to the election notes, it had originally been scheduled for the end of October and was brought forward after he dissolved parliament during his inauguration on 21 May 2019.
A new majority
The result on 21 July was decisive. Servant of the People, the president's party, won most of the seats with a comfortable majority. Later tallies put its total at 254 seats, an outright majority.
Five parties cleared the threshold to enter the Rada: Servant of the People, Opposition Platform – For Life, European Solidarity, Batkivshchyna and Holos. In addition, 199 deputies were elected under the majoritarian system in single-member districts.
The call on 25 July
On 25 July 2019, the day before the date covered here, U.S. President Donald J. Trump spoke by phone with the president of Ukraine. According to a White House transcript, the conversation included discussion of the son of U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden, and Trump asked the Ukrainian president to look into it.
A day of contrasts
The week was not only about politics. On 20 July, Olga Kharlan won gold in the sabre at the world fencing championships, becoming a six-time world champion.
Seen from 26 July 2019, then, Ukraine had a new parliamentary balance, a president whose party held a majority, and a phone call that had just taken place with the U.S. president. What the Rada would do with its majority was still to be seen.
