Ukrainian Parliament Elects Speaker, Prime Minister Amid Fistfights

[FarCenter]

OSCOW, December 13 (RIA Novosti) – The new Ukrainian parliament finally managed to choose a speaker and reelect Mykola Azarov as prime minister on Thursday after two days of brawling among deputies in the chamber crippled its inaugural session, Ukrainian news service UNIAN reported.

Images of the physical free-for-all, in which opposition deputies took on rivals from the ruling Party of Regions in the Verkhovna Rada’s first session on Wednesday, made international headlines.

The new parliament, elected in the country’s October 28 elections, was widely expected to be divisive after opposition forces made considerable gains.

Those expectations were first borne out on Wednesday, as opposition deputies blocked the Party of Regions’ attempt to reelect Azarov. They also descended on the rostrum on Thursday in a failed attempt to derail the vote for Volodymyr Rybak as speaker.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20121213/178134928.html

[teddy51]

1. I think it's time we had this happen in the US Congress!

[FarCenter]

2. Their MPs appear to average about two decades younger than our Congress