Zelensky dissolves parliament and calls snap election for July
A look back at the decree issued on 21 May 2019, the day after the new president took office, ending the Verkhovna Rada's eighth convocation.
What did Ukraine's new president do with his first full day in office? On 21 May 2019, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree ending the powers of the eighth convocation of the Verkhovna Rada and calling an early parliamentary election for 21 July 2019.
Announced at the inauguration
The decree followed the announcement made the previous day. On 20 May 2019, Zelensky, a former comedian and reality television actor, was sworn in by the Verkhovna Rada as the sixth President of Ukraine. As reported at the time, he announced the dissolution of parliament and called a snap election in the course of the inauguration.
The 21 May decree gave that announcement legal form. It formally terminated the powers of the outgoing parliament and fixed the date of the vote.
The government's response
Also on 20 May 2019, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said he would resign on Wednesday in response to the new president's disbanding of parliament. That meant 22 May 2019.
What followed
The election took place on 21 July 2019, as the decree had set. It had originally been scheduled for the end of October, so the decree brought it forward by several months. Later, the vote gave Zelensky's Servant of the People party an outright majority, with 254 seats.
The decree of 21 May 2019 was therefore the step that turned a statement made at the inauguration into a fixed election date.
