KIEV, July 15 – Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn will probably be dismissed at an emergency session of Parliament that is likely to be held within the next two weeks, pro-government and opposition lawmakers said.

The dismissal – and the appointment of a new parliamentary speaker – is now much easier to carry out following a ruling by the Constitutional Court on Thursday.

“They will probably say good-bye to him. They don’t need him anymore, and Lytvyn understands that he is being abandoned,” Volodymyr Bondarenko, a lawmaker from the opposition Batkivshchyna party, told HolosUA.

Vasyl Kyseliov, a senior member of the pro-government Regions Party, said Parliament will consider dismissing Lytvyn unless the speaker withdraws his resignation that he submitted on July 4.

“Unless he changes his mind and withdraws his resignation, then probably at the emergency session of Parliament we will review his letter,” Kyseliov told Channel 5.

The developments show the Regions Party has been seeking ways to quickly end a political crisis following the approval of a controversial bill that allows making Russian de-facto second state language in many Ukrainian regions.

The bill, which is designed to help the Regions Party boost support among their voters in eastern and southern regions of Ukraine ahead of October elections, may split in the country. Lytvyn refused to sign the bill, postponing it from reaching the office of President Viktor Yanukovych, and submitted his resignation.

The resignation of Lytvyn and the appointment of the new speaker would require cooperation from opposition groups as at least 300 lawmakers in the 450-seat Parliament had to participate in the vote by secret ballots.

The ruling by the Constitutional Court on Thursday stipulated that dismissal – and appointment of a new speaker – can be carried out by a simple majority of 226 lawmakers, and the vote can be handled through electronic voting system, which is frequently abused by lawmakers with each deputy voting for a number of his absent colleagues.

The Regions Party and its allies control 250 seats in Parliament.

It took the court only two days for the Constitutional Court to deliberate on the matter - unprecedented pace for a court that usually takes at least one month to do that – suggesting the ruling may be rushed and politically motivated.

The Regions Party is due to hold a major pre-election congress on July 30, and people familiar with the situation said plans also include holding the emergency session of Parliament on July 31 to resolve the crisis by either replacing Lytvyn or forcing him to sign the controversial language bill.

Lytvyn, in a statement before the ruling, said the Constitutional Court had no jurisdiction over deciding on matters, such as dismissal and appointment of speaker, that are regulated by Parliament.

Instead, Lytvyn called for a conciliatory meeting between political groups and language experts to find a compromise over a language bill. (tl/ez)