Ukraine’s ruling coalition disbands
The faction "Samopomich" (Self-Reliance) announced its withdrawal from the ruling coalition of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, meaning that the coalition has effectively collapsed. Only two factions, “Bloc Petro Poroshenko” and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s "Narodniy Front" (People’s Front) remain in the coalition. The two factions combined compile less than half of the votes in parliament.
“The party leadership decided that it is impossible [for "Samopomich"]… to remain in an alliance with the political forces that participated in the oligarchic coup in the parliament,” stated the leader of the faction, Oleg Berezyuk.
"The Ukrainian nation has witnessed outright collusion between the senior management of the state on the one hand and the parliament controlled by the oligarchs on the other,"the party's press release stated
On February 17th, the faction “Batkivschina” (Fatherland) announced its withdrawal from the coalition, and its leader, Yulia Timoshenko, called on other parties to follow suit.
"Samopomich" also encouraged members of the two remaining factions to withdraw from the coalition. "We appeal to the deputies of the 'Bloc Petro Poroshenko' and 'Narodniy Front' who consider it unacceptable to cement the power of the oligarchy and the kleptocracy, to come out of their factions, declare their position clearly and jointly coordinate actions to protect parliamentarism in Ukraine," the party's statement concluded.
On Tuesday, Yatsenyuk survived a no-confidence vote after President Petro Poroshenko asked the Prime Minister to resign. During the vote, 194 out of 339 MPs voted in favor of the motion, short of the 226 needed for it to be passed.