A member of the main ruling Party of Regions, MP Vadym Kolesnichenko, has said that his party voted today in favor of an opposition proposal to dismiss the deputy prime minister for humanitarian issues, Volodymyr Semynozhenko, because he failed to cope with his duties. The 5 Kanal TV channel showed Kolesnichenko commenting on Semynozhenko's dismissal in Parliament after the vote held today.

The Ukrainian Parliament today voted to dismiss Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Issues Volodymyr Semynozhenko.

The Ukrainian Parliament today appointed Mykola Zlochevskiy the new minister of environment. His candidacy was submitted in person to Parliament by Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. A total of 259 MPs voted in favor.

The bill (No 6601) adopted today on the electoral system to be used at local elections in Ukraine stipulates that only local branches of political parties can nominate candidates to run in the elections to the Crimean Parliament, regional, district and city councils as well as district councils in cities. Candidates for village councils can be nominated by local branches of political parties and independently. A candidate can be nominated to run for mayor only by a local branch of a political party.

The Ukrainian Parliament today adopted a bill (No 6601) in its first reading on the electoral system to be used at local elections in Ukraine. The draft bill was tabled by Oleksandr Yefremov, an MP of the pro-presidential Party of Regions faction. It proposes a mixed system of proportional voting and first-past-the-post voting. A total of 246 MPs voted in favor of the bill.

For the first time since its establishment, a delegation of 4 members and 4 staff of the Verkhovna Rada of Autonomous Republic of Crimea participated in a study tour sponsored by the US Agency for International Development and organized by the Parliamentary Development Project of Ukraine (PDP II). The delegation was headed by Grigory Ioffe, Chairman of the Permanent Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea on Deputy Mandates, Ethics, and Organizational Management of Verkhovna Rada and Mass Media Relations. The delegation also included the Crimea liaison staff member of the Committee on State Building and Local Self-government of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and USAID Senior Governance Specialist.

The Ukrainian Parliament today adopted a resolution (No 6592) on holding scheduled elections of deputies in local councils as well as mayoral elections in towns, cities and villages on October 31 2010. The resolution was tabled by Party of Regions MPs Valeriy Konovalyuk and Mykhaylo Chechetov.