Today, June 28, various events are taking place in Ukraine on the occasion of the Constitution Day. It was on this day in 1996 that the Basic Law of our country was adopted, UNN writes.
After the declaration of independence, the preparation of the first drafts of the Constitution of Ukraine began in 1992. However, none of them was ever submitted to the Verkhovna Rada for consideration.
On June 8, 1995, during a sharp confrontation between the then President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Moroz, a Constitutional Agreement (the so-called Small Constitution) was signed to reach a political consensus. Work on a new draft of the Basic Law began almost immediately.
On March 12, 1996, a draft of the new Constitution of Ukraine was recommended for consideration by the Verkhovna Rada. The document, in particular, provided for the strengthening of presidential powers and the creation of a bicameral parliament.
On June 4, 258 MPs supported the draft law in the first reading with numerous amendments. However, the process of preparing the document for the second reading slowed down significantly.
On June 26, Kuchma signed a decree to hold an all-Ukrainian referendum on September 25, 1996, to approve the draft Constitution of Ukraine as amended on March 12, which provided for the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada.
In response, on June 27, MPs decided to hold a continuous session to adopt the Constitution. On June 28, after more than 24 hours of session, at 09:18, 315 deputies adopted the Constitution of Ukraine. On the same day, Kuchma canceled his decree on the referendum.
In total, 15 drafts of the Constitution of Ukraine were presented between 1992 and 1996.
Ukraine was the last of the former Soviet republics to adopt a new constitution. In 1991-96, independent Ukraine lived under the constitution of the Ukrainian SSR, which was constantly amended.
Since 1996, eight amendments have been made to the Constitution of Ukraine, three of which concerned changes in the form of government.
On December 8, 2004, in the midst of the Orange Revolution, in order to resolve the political crisis, the Verkhovna Rada voted to change from a presidential-parliamentary to a parliamentary-presidential republic.
After Viktor Yanukovych won the presidential election, the Constitutional Court overturned the decision of the Verkhovna Rada and expanded the powers of the head of state.
On February 21, 2014, during the Revolution of Dignity, the Verkhovna Rada voted for the second time to switch to a parliamentary-presidential form of government.