Government of Ukraine - Head of State

Head of State

According to the constitution the President of Ukraine is the head of state. The current president of Ukraine is Viktor Yanukovych (since January 23, 2010). The president guarantees the state sovereignty, territorial indivisibility, the observance of the Constitution as well as human and citizens' rights and freedoms.

President is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. The last presidential elections were held in 2010 (See: Ukrainian presidential election, 2010). The elections of the president are held on the last Sunday of October of the fifth year of the term of authority or in special circumstances within ninety (90) days from the day of termination of the authority. During the Constitutional reform in Ukraine in 2004 the Presidential authority became substantially reduced, however the reforms of 2004 were reverted by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in 2010.

Requirements

• 35 years of age
• right to vote
• resided in Ukraine for the last ten (10) years prior to the elections
• has command of the state language

Restrictions

• serve the position more than two consecutive terms
• have another representative mandate
• hold office in bodies of state power or in citizen associations
• perform any other paid or entrepreneurial activities
• be a member of an administrative body or board of supervisors of an enterprise that is aimed at making profit

The presidential authority to disband the parliament (Verkhovna Rada) has been however somewhat widened, though the current Constitution of Ukraine still provides for such action only under a narrow set of conditions. The conditions that allow the President to dismiss the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, including the Prime Minister have been substantially restricted as well. The presidential participation in the choice of the Prime Minister and most other members of the Cabinet has been reduced. While both the choice of the candidate for the Prime Minister and its final approval is now the responsibility of the parliament, it is the President who makes a formal nomination of the candidate proposed to him by the parliamentary coalition back to the full Verkhovna Rada for an up and down approval vote. The issue on whether the presidential role in the nomination is purely ceremonial, that is whether he has to nominate the candidate offered to him by a coalition or whether he can refuse and, thus force the coalition to come up with a different nomination, remains unresolved as of August 2006 and is a matter of an intense political debate.

Although most of the members of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine are chosen and nominated to the Parliament by the Prime Minister, the President still retains the authority to nominate the Ministers of the Foreign Affairs and of Defense for the parliamentary approval. The President also nominates for the heads of the central enforcement-related bodies that do not belong to the Cabinet, such as the Prosecutor General of Ukraine and the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, but not of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the largest governmental security arm whose responsibility includes most of the police (militsiya) agency.

Also, the President appoints and dismisses the Heads of the Local State Administrations (i.e. governors) by nomination of the Cabinet of Ministers. The debate on whether the President could hypothetically reject the candidate for the governernorship officially proposed by the Prime Minister, thus forcing the latter to come up with a different nomination, is yet to be resolved.