Ukraine's parliament takes supreme power

The Ukrainian parliament announced on Saturday that the 2004 Constitution, which allows lawmakers to form a new government without the president's consent, had been fully restored.

 

A corresponding bill had already been approved earlier, but President Viktor Yanukovych, who has left Kyiv, has not signed it yet. Today the Parliament issued a decree restoring the 2004 Constitution, which does not require the president's approval.

 

Members of Parliament also elected Alexander Turchinov, the head of the opposition Fatherland party's faction, as the new Speaker.

 

The Parliament also passed a vote of no confidence in the Prosecutor General, appointed opposition politician Arsen Ivakov as the new Interior Minister and decided that former prime minister Yuliya Tymosheko should be released from prison.