Zelensky sworn in and dissolves parliament on inauguration day
A look back at the day a former comedian took the presidential oath, called a snap election and prompted the prime minister to announce his resignation.
What happened when Ukraine's new president took office and moved against parliament in the same breath? On 20 May 2019, Volodymyr Zelensky, a former comedian and reality television actor, was sworn in by the Verkhovna Rada as the 6th President of Ukraine.
During the inauguration he announced the dissolution of parliament and called a snap parliamentary election. The decision reshaped the political calendar from its first hours.
The prime minister responds
The same day, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman announced that he would resign on Wednesday, in response to the new president's disbanding of parliament.
What followed
Background compiled later places the resulting vote on 21 July 2019. It had originally been scheduled for the end of October, and was brought forward after the dissolution. The background describes the dissolution as taking place on 21 May 2019, a date that differs from the 20 May inauguration-day announcement reported at the time. In that later election, Zelensky's Servant of the People party won an outright majority, taking 254 seats.
A note from the sports pages
Elsewhere in Ukrainian public life, on 19 May 2019, the day before the inauguration, Shakhtar Donetsk secured the 2018–2019 national football championship ahead of schedule, winning the title for the 12th time.
