KIEV, Jan. 10 – President Viktor Yanukovych suffered a setback on Thursday when Parliament refused to support his planned reshuffle at the National Bank of Ukraine, underscoring his lack of majority control.

Yanukovych nominated Ihor Sorkin, a deputy NBU governor, to replace Serhiy Arbuzov, the NBU governor, who was recently promoted to the post of first deputy prime minister.

The reshuffle is seen as the key move for Yanukovych, who has been seeking to strengthen his authority by appointing and promoting personal loyalists, such as Arbuzov.

However, lawmakers on Thursday rejected the plan by refusing to back Arbuzov’s formal dismissal, de-facto blocking the approval of Sorkin to the post.

Only 217 lawmakers in the 450-seat Parliament supported the plan, less than 226 votes that are required to approve the decision.

“They do not have enough votes,” Ruslan Koshulynskiy, deputy speaker of Parliament and a member of the opposition Svoboda party, said.

Arbuzov, who is believed to be Yanukovych’s most trusted lieutenant, did not show up in Parliament for the vote, angering opposition groups.

The groups, Batkivshchyna, Udar and Svoboda, insisted that Arbuzov must address Parliament and answer questions before he can be dismissed.

“Until the governor of the NBU delivers report and the nominated governor outlines his policy plans, we will not vote,” Vitaliy Klichko, the leader of Udar, said. “The government does not want to report on its previous actions.”

The development comes despite the Regions Party sending out texts on Wednesday urging its lawmakers to show up in Parliament in the morning on Thursday to make sure the NBU reshuffle can go ahead.

The failure to approve the reshuffle is also a setback for Arbuzov, who had failed to get traction even with Regions Party lawmakers.

Yanukovych last month has been pushing for Arbuzov’s nomination as the prime minister, but many Regions Party lawmakers have opposed, forcing Yanukovych to nominate incumbent Mykola Azarov instead.

The lawmakers also criticized – and rejected - Arbuzov’s controversial idea of slapping 15% tax on transactions involving hard currency.

The NBU, under Arbuzov’s leadership, spent at least $6 billion to support the hryvnia, the local currency, in 2012, with forex reserves plunging to about $25 billion at the end of 2012, according to the central bank.

The Regions Party plans to try again on Friday to approve the NBU reshuffle.

“We have to find a solution for this problem,” Volodymyr Makeyenko, the head of the Rules and Ethics Committee in Parliament and a member of the Regions Party, said. (tl/ez)