In Ukraine, political tension is mounting ahead of the legislative elections that are scheduled for 28 October.

Specifically, there is considerable unrest surrounding the passage of a new Bill that gives linguistic rights to the Russian language. As reported by RIA Novosti, the Bill gives Russian the status of a regional language in regions where it is the native language of at least 10 per cent of the population, or 13 out of Ukraine’s 27 administrative-territorial entities, including Kiev. The early discussion of the Bill provoked a fist fight in the legislature. The final passage of the Bill has now led the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, the parliament, to state that he is resigning from his position.

The Speaker, Volodymyr Lytvyn, has announced that he will resign to mark his opposition to the Bill. He is a member of the People’s Party that provides some support to the government of President Viktor Yanukovych whose Party of the Regions proposed the Bill.

The announcement of the resignation of Speaker Lytvyn has the potential to cause a serious legislative problem because Art. 94 of the Ukrainian Constitution states: “The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine signs a law and forwards it without delay to the President of Ukraine”. In other words, legislation cannot be passed without the signature of a Speaker. If Speaker Lytvyn does resign, then the Verkhovna Rada could elect a new Speaker, but the election requires at least two-thirds of deputies to take part in the vote. The opposition to the Party of the Regions can muster a one-third blocking minority. Therefore, it is possible that no Speaker could be elected prior to the elections in October.

All that said, as I understand the situation, Speaker Lytvyn has merely announced that he is resigning. He has not formally tendered his resignation. Therefore, if there is a compromise on the Bill or if it is dropped, then he could merely state that he no longer had any intention of resigning.