SUMMARY

 Judging by two-year law-making efficiency and legislative capacity indices, the Verkhovna Rada of 8th convocation looks somewhat better than the 7th convocation Rada, but is inferior to the parliaments of earlier convocations.

The efficiency coefficient of the current parliament (the share of adopted draft laws in the total number of registered drafts) is just 11%. In terms of specific holders of the right to legislative initiative, the President’s efficiency (81%) is much higher than that of the MPs (7%) or the Government (29%). The law-making efficiency coefficient of every single faction is similarly low, ranging from the lowest figure of 3.6% (the Opposition Bloc) to the highest of 13.8% (the Radical Party). During the two-year period, the individual lawmaking efficiency of 99 MPs was at zero level: they initiated dozens of drafts none of which became a law. On the whole, female MPs displayed a somewhat higher law-making efficiency compared to male MPs: 11% and 7%, respectively. Deputies elected on the basis of political party lists were twice as efficient as those elected in majority districts: 10% vs. 5%.

The main reason for the low level of the parliament’s law-making efficiency of the parliament consists in the excessively high number of draft laws registered by the People’s Deputies. During the first two years of operation of the 8th convocation Verkhovna Rada, the MPs registered twice as many draft laws compared to their colleagues who had been working in the faraway parliament of 3rd convocation. In view of the fact that the number of draft laws initiated by parliamentarians has been steadily growing while the number of laws adopted by the Verkhovna Rada is relatively stable, 8 out of 9 draft laws registered by MPs in the parliament are unlikely to become laws.

In spite of low law-making efficiency indices, the MPs are no less responsible than the Government or the President for developing current policies and updating the legal framework. Of the 516 laws that were enacted by the 8th convocation Verkhovna Rada and are currently in force, 51% were drafted by MPs, 34% by the Government and 15% by the President.

The disintegration of the parliamentary coalition brought about a reformatting of the Government and changes in the rhetoric of the coalition factions, but without changing the behavior of these factions during the voting. There was no essential impact on the voting similarity indices of the ex-coalition factions.

Of the 516 laws currently in force, twenty-one (in particular the Laws “On the Accounting Chamber” and “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges”) were adopted without the mandatory opinion from the Main Office for Research and Evaluation. Lack of appropriate evaluation of draft laws and an avalanche-like increase in the number of legislative initiatives have caused an extra workload on the parliamentary committees and significantly reduced the quality of the law-making process.

Low law-making efficiency of the parliament

Only 11% of the draft laws registered during the two-year period at the Verkhovna Rada of 8th convocation have become laws. The low level of law-making efficiency is an institutional problem for Ukrainian parliamentarism which is characteristic of all Verkhovna Rada convocations. Remarkably, a negative trend has been observed as regards the Verkhovna Rada’s law-making efficiency coefficient, which has been declining or showing no tangible progress. During the first two years of its operation, the Verkhovna Rada of 8th convocation was most similar in terms of law-making efficiency to the parliaments of 7th convocation (2012-2014) and of 4th convocation (2002 – 2006), which had operated during the most acute political crises in Ukraine’s independence period. By contrast, the Verkhovna Rada of 3rd convocation had the highest-ever efficiency index: its MPs voted in support of 29% of the total number of registered draft laws.     

The President and the Government are more efficient lawmakers than the MPs

Eighty-one percent of the draft laws initiated by the President during the two years of operation of the Verkhovna Rada eventually became laws. Nearly a third (29%) of the draft laws submitted to the parliament by the Government were approved by voting. By contrast, only 7% (one out of every fifteen) of the draft laws registered by MPs succeeded in taking effect. 

That kind of situation is characteristic of all convocations of the parliament. The MPs’ law-making efficiency coefficient has been decreasing gradually – from the maximum of 16% achieved by the 3rd convocation Verkhovna Rada to 6–7% displayed by the last two convocation of the parliament. The Government’ lawmaking efficiency coefficient has gone up somewhat compared to the index of the previous convocation of the Verkhovna Rada: from 25% to 29%. However, it is lower than the indices achieved by the earlier convocations of the Ukrainian parliament. By contrast, the President has been showing an upward trend and a much higher level of law-making efficiency (81%) compared to the previous convocations. The likely reason behind that disproportion is that the President and the Government have been using their right to legislative initiative in a much more pragmatic and responsible way, focusing their efforts on initiating and promoting a limited number of priority draft laws.  

There are no essential differences in law-making efficiency figures between the different factions. The coefficient is similarly low, ranging from 3.6% (the Opposition Bloc) to 13.8% (the Radical Party). On the whole, as was to be expected, the lowest law-making efficiency indices are those of factions not belonging to the pro-Government coalition, while the indices of the five factions that used to be members of the coalition “European Ukraine” are somewhat higher.  

The law-making efficiency of a quarter of the MPs is at a zero level

Only ten MPs have an individual law-making coefficient that exceeds 30%. In this respect, the leaders are Bohdan Onufryk (the Petro Poroshenko Bloc) with an efficiency of 57%, Viktoria Siumar (the People’s Front) with 42%, and Hlib Zahoriy (the Petro Poroshenko Bloc) with 38%.  

At the same time, 99 MPs have displayed a law-making efficiency of zero level during the two years, in spite of having initiated a considerable number of draft laws. Here, the anti-leaders are primarily members of the Opposition Bloc faction. Thus, Natalia Korolevska was involved in developing 97 draft laws none of which was adopted. Yuriy Solod had 79 such draft laws; Dmytro Shpenov, 69; and Oleksandr Vilkul, 58. The non-affiliated MP Evheniy Muraev initiated 90 draft laws none of which took effect.

MPs register more draft laws than they can consider

An absolute majority of draft laws in the Verkhovna Rada of different convocations was initiated by the People’s Deputies; this results in low law-making efficiency indices of the factions, the individual MPs, and the parliament as a whole. During the first two years of work, the MPs of the Verkhovna Rada of 8th convocation registered twice as many drafts compared to their colleagues who had been working in the faraway parliament of 3rd convocation. The share of drafts initiated by the Government or by the President is minimal and has been gradually decreasing, compared to the previous convocations. In this respect, the Ukrainian parliament differs from the parliaments of the European Union countries, where most legislative acts are usually initiated by the Government. 

Within the existing legal framework, the number of laws that the parliament can adopt is limited and relatively stable. In principle, one can speak of the parliament’s throughput capacity: the number of laws that the parliament can produce within a specified time interval. Thus, during the first two years of operation of the Verkhovna Rada of different convocations, this parameter never exceeded 557 laws (in the Verkhovna Rada of 3rd convocation) and never went down below 171 laws.

However, as the MPs register an ever higher number of draft laws, they do not take these limits into account. Nor do they care about the consequences: the additional workload on the committees, the Rada Secretariat and the factions – on account of the need to process an ever increasing number of draft laws within the same time interval. The MPs physically have no time to review all the drafts of legislative acts that they initiate in the parliament, not to mention the possibility for an in-depth analysis of these acts or for their improvement.

If these dynamics persist, eight out of every nine draft laws registered by the MPs in the parliament will have no chance to become laws.

At the same time, there are MPs who do not participate at all in the drafting of laws. Thus, the non-affiliated MP Serhiy Kliuev did not initiate a single draft. During that period, only one draft law was initiated by the non-affiliated MPs Kostiantyn Zhevaho and Pavlo Baloha as well as by Denys Omelianovych and Dmytro Dobkin from the Opposition Bloc faction.

Where does the law-making responsibility for the current policies lie?

By analyzing the identity of the authors of the laws which were adopted by the parliament in the past two years and which established new “rules of play” within the existing legal framework, one can determine the shares of responsibility for the current policies among the different holders of the right to legislative initiative. Of the total number of laws adopted by the parliament of 8th convocation (516 documents), 51% belong to the MPs, 34% were initiated by the Government and 15% by the President. Thus, in spite of the low lawmaking efficiency indices, the MPs are no less responsible than the Government or the President for the creation of current policies and for updating the legal framework. In comparison with the previous Verkhovna Rada convocations, an upward trend is observed for the share of MP-initiated laws in the total number of adopted laws (from 29% to 51%), along with a respective decrease in the share of “governmental” and “presidential” laws.

As regards factions the main responsibility for creating current policies by means of initiating new laws lies with the Petro Poroshenko Bloc and the People’s Front. MPs from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc were involved in 71% of all laws currently in force that were registered and enacted by the MPs of the 8th convocation parliament. The People’s Front took part in the preparation of more than half (58%) of the current laws. By contrast, their partners in the parliamentary coalition “European Ukraine” (which existed until February 2016) took part in developing just one third of the drafts that eventually became laws. That is, 2/3 of the current laws were developed without direct participation of Samopomich, the Radical Party and Batkivshchyna. Their partnership in the coalition manifested itself primarily in joint voting for draft laws submitted by other factions rather than in initiating (developing) joint drafts.    

Interaction between factions in the parliament

Factions’ similar voting characterizes the level of interaction and coordination of their positions at the time of voting. Actually, the voting similarity index reveals the real configuration of the parliamentary majority and the extent of its consolidation.

Thus, the core of the pro-Government coalition is made up of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc and the People’s Front, whose voting similarity index is as high as 96%. The key allies of these factions at decision-making moments are their ex-partners in the coalition “European Ukraine” (which was terminated in February 2016). The level of interaction of the two pro-Government factions with the Radical Party is somewhat lower – 80%; with the Samopomich faction, almost 70%; with Batkivshchyna, a little over 60%. After the disintegration of the coalition “European Ukraine,” the voting similarity indices of factions that used to be members of the coalition did not undergo any essential changes. The disintegration of the parliamentary coalition brought about a reformatting of the Government and changes in the rhetoric of the coalition factions, but without changing the behavior of these factions during the votings. The main antagonist of the pro-Government factions is the Opposition Bloc, the voting similarity index amounting to just 4% in this case. 

Lack of appropriate evaluation of legislative initiatives

Pursuant to the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada, draft laws that were registered and put on the agenda of the current session must necessarily be presented for scientific evaluation in the process of preparation for the first reading; and when being prepared for the second and subsequent readings, they must be presented for legal analysis and editing to the relevant structural units of the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada (Article 103).

In practice, however, this provision is not observed. Twenty-one draft laws (out of 516) were considered and adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in the absence of an opinion from the Main Office for Research and Evaluation. These documents include the Laws “On the Accounting Chamber” and “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges.”

MPs’ indiscipline

None of the MPs of the 8th convocation Verkhovna Rada took part in every single voting during the plenary meetings. A total of 6,726 votings took place during the two years of operation of the current parliament. The median value of attendance of plenary meetings by all the MPs is 85%. This means that, on the average, 358 MPs are present in the Verkhovna Rada during the votings. Some of them ignored more than 90% of all the votings at the parliament. In this respect, the anti-leaders are the non-affiliated MPs Andriy Biletskyi (whose voting attendance is 1%), Dmytro Yarosh (3%), Serhiy Kliuev (3.2%), Yukhym Zviahilskyi from the Opposition Bloc (7.2%), and another non-affiliated MP, Kostiantyn Zhevaho (7.5%).

As regards parliamentary factions the most disciplined ones are the People’s Front (whose index of attendance of plenary sessions is 88%), Petro Poroshenko Bloc (86%), and Samopomich (83%). The attendance index of the Radical Party and Batkivshchyna factions as well as the Vidrodzhenia group exceeded 70%. The least disciplined faction is that of the Opposition Bloc, whose members attended, on the average, 63% of the votings. This means that, on the average, 27 (out of 43) MPs representing the Opposition Bloc vote at the plenary sessions. 

Discipline implies not only participation/non-participating in votings; its separate manifestation is MPs’ faction loyalty. An MP’s loyalty is represented by the number of times when he or she voted exactly the same way most of the members of the respective faction did. A deputy’s loyalty can vary between 0% and 100%. No faction has any perfectly loyal members (whose loyalty is as high as 100%).

At the same time, each faction has “troublemaker” MPs that vote in the least disciplined way and most frequently deviate from the concerted position of the faction. These deputies are not perceived as a threat to the faction as long as it succeeds in maintaining stable loyalty of most of its members. Factions differ only in the level of disagreement of individual members that can be tolerated. The faction with the highest tolerance level is the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, its member Vitaliy Chepynoha holding the record for highest deviation from the position of most of the faction’s members: 79%. In the second and third place are the People’s Front faction and the Vidrodzhenia Party group, where the highest deviation is 63% (Denys Dzenzerskyi) and 62% (Vasyl Huliaev), respectively. In the Opposition Bloc, the leading dissenter is Ihor Shurma, who voted contrary to the party line in 58% of the cases. Against that background, the factions of Batkivshchyna, Samopomich, and the Radical Party make an essentially different showing, for among them the highest deviation from the faction’s position does not exceed 29% (Radical Party faction: Andriy Lozovyi with 21%; Samopomich: Tetiana Ostrikova with 28%; Batkivshchyna: Andriy Kozhemiakin with 29%). 

MPs’ supervisory function

The Law “On the Status of the People’s Deputy of Ukraine” sets forth the specific rights of the MPs in the sphere of supervision, in particular their right to submit inquiries and applications to state agencies. An inquiry is a demand for an official reply from a state agency; such demand must be made at a Verkhovna Rada session and be supported by no less than one fifth of the MPs.

MPs differ considerably in how actively they use this controlling instrument. The average number (median value) of inquiries submitted by an MP during the two years of the parliament’s operation is 15. At the same time, there are more than twenty deputies (primarily non-affiliated ones plus Petro Poroshenko faction members) each of whom has submitted more than one hundred inquiries during this period. In particular the leader in this respect, Oleksandr Dombrovskyi (BPP), has submitted a total of 294 inquiries.

As regards ministries to which the MPs addressed their inquiries the object of greatest interest was the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. Of all the inquiries addressed to the Government, 23% were sent to the MIA; 12% went to the Ministry of Defense and 11% to the Ministry of Public Health. Less than 1% of the MPs’ inquiries were addressed to the Ministry for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the Ministry of Culture. 

Public statements: low level of debating culture

Only one fifth of the parliamentarians regularly take part in discussing parliamentary agenda items during plenary meetings (speaking more than 50 times). The average number (median value) of statements made by an MP during the two years under review is 15 (from the floor and/or the rostrum). At the same time, some MPs show absolute dominance in terms of the number of statements made at the Verkhovna Rada. In particular, the clear leader is Oleh Liashko (the Radical Party), who spoke 637 times at the parliament’s plenary meetings. The runner-up in this rating is the non-affiliated MP Yuriy Levchenko, who rose to speak 354 times. The top speakers of the other factions are Ruslan Kniazevych (the Petro Poroshenko Bloc), Yehor Sobolev (Samopomich), Oleksandr Dolzhenkov (the Opposition Bloc), Andriy Kozhemiakin (Batkivshchyna), Viktoria Siumar (the People’s Front), Volodymyr Lytvyn (the Volia Narodu group), and Oleh Kulinich (the Vidrodzhenia Party group).

RECOMMENDATIONS

• The way in which MPs are to present individual legislative initiatives (draft laws) should be revisited and regulated. For example, a provision could be enacted specifying that deputies’ draft laws can only be submitted by an MP faction or group.
• The classification of different types of normative acts should be legislatively regulated; the voting procedure should be adjusted by simplifying it for non-constitutional laws.
•  The initiators of important draft laws should be required to submit a conceptual rationale for the content of a proposed regulatory act in the format of a so-called White Book.
• Control over adherence to the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada should be strengthened, in particular as regards mandatory evaluation of draft laws.

Methodological notes

• When analyzing the parliament’s law-making activity and efficiency, only draft laws were taken into account (draft resolutions were disregarded), since the most important social relations are regulated by laws rather than resolutions and since the process of creating and adopting a law is more complicated from the procedural viewpoint.
• The processed data do not include information on the Verkhovna Rada of 5th convocation, since the mandate of that parliament lasted for less than two years and so its length made it irrelevant for comparative generalizations.
• When preparing this material, the authors used data from the sites rada.oporaua.org, rada4you.org, opendata.rada.gov.ua, and rada.gov.ua. 

Prepared under the USAID Program “RADA: Responsibility, Accountability, and Democratic Assembly” implemented by the East Europe Foundation. 

Contact person for comments:

Oleksandr Neberykut, OPORA’s analyst

0636286837