Several Ukrainian politicians are accused of vote rigging inside the country’s parliament in order to push through a new protestor amnesty law, as President Victor Yanukovich went on sick leave citing respiratory problems.
In a parliamentary session in Kiev on Wednesday evening, pro-government politicians were seen voting illegally in favour of the new law on behalf of absent opposition members.
Pushing through the amnesty law was one of the government’s latest attempts to end the unrest that has gripped the country since mid-November. The sharp escalation of street unrest was prompted by Yanukovich’s rejection of a European Union deal in favour of closer ties with Russia.
The new law offers amnesty to dozens of arrested anti-government protesters, but only if opposition demonstrators vacate most of the government buildings they occupy and demolish their barricades.
The official count of the vote registered 232 members of parliament in favour. Two politicians abstained from voting and 11 others went against it. Yanukovich’s party pushed through its preferred draft of the law with a majority of just six votes.
AlJazeera
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