9th Verkhovna Rada

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the 9th convocation is the current convocation of the legislative branch of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's unicameral parliament. The 9th convocation meets at the Verkhovna Rada building in Kyiv, having begun its term on 29 August 2019 following the last session of the 8th Verkhovna Rada. The 9th Verkhovna Rada's composition is based upon the results of the 21 July 2019 parliamentary election, which took place three months after the second round of the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election. Ukraine's head of state during the parliament's term is President Volodymyr Zelensky. Eleven parties were represented in the Verkhovna Rada, although only five of them surpassed the mandatory five percent election threshold to gain representation based on the proportional representation system. About 80 percent of the members of parliament of this convocation were new to parliament; 83 deputies managed to get re-elected from the previous parliament and 13 deputies from earlier convocations. All deputies from the biggest party with 254 seats, Servant of the People, were political newcomers. 61 percent of the new MPs had never before been engaged in politics. A total of 27 constituencies were not elected due to various crises taking place in the country. A total of 10 constituencies in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and two in the City of Sevastopol were not elected due to the 2014 Crimean crisis and subsequent annexation of Crimea by Russia, while a further nine constituencies in Donetsk Oblast and six constituencies in Luhansk Oblast were not elected due to the ongoing War in Donbas. Elections in these regions can only take place after Ukraine re-establishes control over these territories.