(WP) Yesterday, the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, issued a call for the current prime minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, to resign, after which Yatsenyuk survived a vote of no confidence. To help make sense of these events – and their implication for both the short and long-term future of Ukraine – I emailed political scientist Oxana Shevel of Tufts University for her reaction. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of her answers to my questions:
Joshua Tucker: What exactly happened yesterday in Ukraine?
Oxana Shevel: The Ukrainian cabinet delivered its performance report to the Ukrainian parliament, and the parliament voted the cabinet’s performance unsatisfactory. However, the parliament failed to vote no confidence in the government and prime minister Arsenii Yatsenyuk. 194 lawmakers voted in favor of the no-confidence motion, 32 votes short of the necessary 226 for the vote to pass. The outcome of the vote was uncertain until the end, and many believed that the government might resign or be dismissed, especially after Poroshenko publicly called for the cabinet’s resignation. […]
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