MOSCOW (AP) – The speaker of the Ukrainian parliament was elected the country’s new prime minister Thursday in a vote that the government hopes will end a months-long political crisis but which reformers say gives Ukraine’s oligarchs a free hand in running the country.
In recent months, political tensions have risen in Ukraine and some respected reformers have resigned, citing disenchantment with the government’s cronyism and entrenched corruption.
The Supreme Rada on Thursday voted 257-50 in favor of Volodymyr Groysman, a compromise choice nominated by President Petro Poroshenko after his apparent first choice, U.S.-born Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, was rejected by the governing coalition.
“The new prime minister and the cabinet will help to bring the government out of a months-long lethargy,” Kiev-based analyst Vadim Karasyov said.
Jaresko had been lauded as a West-friendly reformist untainted by Ukraine’s rampant cronyism and corruption. She helped to negotiate a deal to restructure Ukraine’s $15 billion debt and has been negotiating a bailout with the International Monetary Fund, but lost her post later Thursday when Groysman announced his new Cabinet.