President dissolves Ukraine parliament after being sworn in

Ukrainian TV star Volodymyr Zelenskiy has moved swiftly to dissolve the country’ s parliament, moments after he was sworn in as the country’s new president.

Mr Zelenskiy, who won 73 per cent of the vote last month, justified his contentious decision to dissolve the par li ament, which is controlled by allies of the man he defeated, Petro Poroshenko, on the grounds it has become a hotbed of self-enrichment.

He issued a presidential decree formally disbanding the parliament, with a snap election to be held within two months after the decree is signed.

Elections to the Supreme R ada were scheduled for 27 October, which raised the prospect of Mr Zelenskiy struggling to en act his agenda in the face of a hostile parliament.

Mr Zelenskiy, who played the Ukrainian president on a popular TV show for years, is gambling that his popularity will see the next parliament dominated by supporters of his agenda to reform Ukraine and steer a new path with Russia.

“People are tired of experienced ... politicians who for 28 years have been building a country of opportunities,” he said. “Opportunities for kickbacks, money laundering and corruption.”

Mr Zelenskiy’s surprise move follows repeated attempts by the majority in the current parliament to stymie his campaign promise for a snap election. Since last month’s election, Mr Zelenskiy’s opponents in the Rada sought to put off the inauguration close to the 27 May deadline by which the parliament can be dissolved.

In a dramatic move last week, the R ada announced the collapse of the ruling parliamentary coalition. According to parliamentary rules, the chamber cannot be dissolved for 30 days after the governing coalition has been disbanded.

Mr Zelenskiy’s supporters argue that the Rada’s actions are legally void because the coalition had long ceased to exist.

Mr Zelenskiy’ s landslide victor y reflected Ukrainians’ exhaustion with widespread corruption.

Before disbanding parliament, the 41- year-old Mr Zelenskiy up ended other Ukrainian political tradition son inauguration day.

He ditched the idea of a traditional motorcade to his inauguration, walking to the parliament Kiev through a park packed with people.

Mr Zelenskiy said the main goal for the presidency is to bring peace to eastern Ukraine, where government troops have been fighting Russia-backed separatists for five years in a conflict that has left at least 13,000 dead.

“I’m ready to do everything so that our hero es don’t die there,” he said.

“It wasn’t us who started that war. But we need to be the one to finish it.”