The bill, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted last week after being pressed by thousands of protesters and top European officials, was defeated by 331 to 0 in the vote on Thursday.
Zelenskyy will now need to sign the bill.
The ruling party’s amendments, which gave the president’s hand-picked general prosecutor the authority to appoint new prosecutors from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), angered Ukrainians on July 22 and pushed through parliament.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, thousands have taken to the streets of Kyiv as a result of the decision. Even after Zelenskyy had stated that he would reject the amendments, protesters gathered outside parliament on Thursday as legislators voted, bursting into cheers as the bill was passed.
The head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Andriy Yermak, wrote on social media that “everyone is a winner, but democratic Ukraine is the winner first and foremost.”
Before the vote, opposition MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn claimed that Ukrainians had “one step away” from the autocracy’s abyss.
According to Charles Stratford, an Al Jazeera reporter reporting from the parliament building in Kyiv, protesters are feeling less anxious as Zelenskyy faces the “largest political crisis” since the start of the conflict.
President Zelenskyy and his cabinet have been in a very bad way over the past few weeks, according to Stratford. There are “many inquiries” about why he first changed the law.
Zelenskyy was forced to reverse the decision by Stratford, who noted that there was “a lot of pressure” from Ukraine’s backers, who were shocked and concerned, as well as hints from the European Union that some funding to Ukraine might be cut off, and that Ukraine was jeopardizing its bid for EU membership.
Zelenskyy justified the agency’s initial decision due to concerns that Russia had hacked into the bodies.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply