Lytvyn elected Verkhovna Rada speaker

As soon as he was elected, Volodymyr Lytvyn announced the creation of a coalition in parliament consisting of BYUT, NUNS (its breakaway group) and the Lytvyn bloc.

Interestingly, all 27 Communist lawmakers voted for Lytvyn, which turned the balance in Lytvyn’s favor. Without them, Lytvyn was supported by 217 lawmakers, 9 votes short of the needed majority.

Here is how the parties voted:

Party of Regions: 3 “yes” out of 175, with 3 absent;

BYUT : 154 “yes” out of 156, with 2 absent;

NUNS : 40 “yes” out of 72, with 23 absent;

Communist party: 27 “yes” out of 27;

Lytvyn bloc: 20 “yes” out of 20;

Three Regions lawmakers votes “yes” – T. Chornovil, Yu. Zvyahilsky and V. Hrytsak.

The pro-Yushchenko part of NUNS, however, lashed out at new coalition members, saying the coalition is illegal because no coalition agreement has been signed, with Andry Parubij threatening to call Borys Tarasiuk on the carpet for having signed the coalition agreement representing the opinion of 40 NUNS lawmakers.

“I think, we will have a coalition of 240 plus lawmakers in a couple of days,” Parubij said. “But not before we see and approve the coalition agreement.”