KIEV, Jan. 14 – Ihor Sorkin’s appointment as the governor of the National Bank of Ukraine was questioned on Monday after opposition groups reported that 22 pro-government lawmakers never attended the Parliament session on Friday at which he was approved.

Without the 22 lawmakers, the Regions Party had no majority on Friday to make the appointment, which may create a major problem for President Viktor Yanukovych.

The Regions Party apparently used replacement voting cards of the missing lawmakers, issued by Parliament’s secretariat on Thursday and Friday, to approve Sorkin, Mykola Tomenko, a senior member of the opposition Batkivshchyna party, said.

“In other words, the 22 lawmakers that could not be physically present in Parliament [on Friday], have voted for Sorkin,” Tomenko said.

The development underscores the fact that Yanukovych does not control majority in Parliament after the October 28 elections. It also raises concerns of whether Sorkin’s appointment is legitimate.

Although the controversial practice has been used – illegally - by previous Parliaments, the opposition groups have made it a center piece of their campaign to stop it, and threatened with confrontation unless their demands are met.

Arseniy Yatseniuk, the leader of Batkivshchyna, said opposition groups will create a special committee to investigate the Sorkin vote.

Although the Regions Party said Friday that Sorkin’s appointment was “legitimate,” the pressure from the opposition groups mat lead to a situation that the appointment of Sorkin, a close loyalist of Yanukovych, may be declared illegal.

The opposition Udar party said it will sue the Sorkin appointment in courts, including taking the matter potentially to the European Court of Human Rights.

“Udar activists begin to file complaints to the Administrative Court that the constitution has been violated,” Vitaliy Klichko, the leader of Udar, said at a press conference Monday. Separate complaints will be submitted to the Constitutional Court.

Klichko also urged Volodymyr Rybak, the speaker of Parliament, to make sure that the voting system is changed to make it impossible voting on behalf of other lawmakers.

“If this is not done, the opposition should declare no confidence in the speaker,” Klichko said. “He is violating the constitution and rules. There must be political accountability for this.”

Separately, opposition party leaders drafted a bill that makes it a crime for a lawmaker to vote on behalf of other lawmakers. (tl/ez)