News Analysis: Ukraine's parliament risks dissolution over public discontent

Ukrainian parliament is risking dissolution three years before its due end of term as public anger over its ineffectiveness in dealing with economic and security problems is growing.

Some local experts have suggested that early parliamentary elections would probably be the best approach to ease public discontent. But there are also opinions that a snap vote will bring more political turmoil.

The parliament went into a two-month recess early July before approving a series of laws to hold local elections in the country's east and for meeting the International Monetary Fund requirements to continue its financial support to the country's crisis-gripped economy, among others.

It is widely believed the parliamentary majority re-jigged after the April resignation of Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk has failed to help the new ruling coalition do an effective job to improve the country's security situation and economic performance.

"The coalition still doesn't have enough support in the parliament,"said independent political analyst Vasyl Mokan.

Divisions, constant brawls and the lack of a strong political will in the parliament are believed to be among the factors leading to its ineptitude. It risks dissolution amid declining public support that began three years before, opinion polls revealed.

A recent survey by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology found only 4.1 percent of Ukrainians think positively of the parliament's work, while 86.9 percent are dissatisfied.

Little has been done to further reduce corruption while the country is facing a jobless rate as high as 9.9 percent and security threats from conflicts in the east. The parliament was also found to be inept of handling such issues as a recent tax hike on public utilities.

The price of heating has soared in July, which prompted a protest outside parliament. The demonstration involving some 30,000 Ukrainians was one of the biggest in two years.

"In the fall, the social crisis will intensify because the utility bills will increase further," said Yury Syrotyuk, head of Ukrainian Studio of Strategic Studies.

He expects the political crisis to peak in late fall with a dissolved parliament becoming the first victim.

"The president and his team need to speed up the work on an early election. The more it is delayed, the worse it would be for them," said Viktor Nebozhenko, director of the sociological service Ukrainian Barometer.

However, calling an early election is deemed by some political experts as a tool for President Petro Poroshenko to divert the current public anger, or the start of another round of political chaos to further delay reforms, rather than a new opportunity to tackle the political and economic impasse in the country.

It may not lead to changes needed in the parliament to ensure an effective majority support for any government to be set up, they argued.

They said that neither political party nor alliance in Ukraine is now powerful enough to secure an absolute parliamentary majority, and that a favorable composition of the parliament is not technically possible unless changes are introduced to the existing electoral regime.

"If the authorities decide to hold the vote, they should agree on amending the electoral law prior to it," said Konstantin Matvienko, head of the "Gardarika" political study center. Endi