Yevgeni Shevchuk
Encyclopedia
Rîbnita
Rîbnița, also spelled Râbnița is a city in Moldova. The city is under the administration of the breakaway government of the Transnistria. According to the 2004 Census in Transnistria, it has a population of 53,648. Rîbniţa is situated in the northern half of Transnistria, on the left bank of the...
, Moldavian SSR
Moldavian SSR
The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic , commonly abbreviated to Moldavian SSR or MSSR, was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union...
) is an ethnic Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
and a politician from Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
, former speaker of Pridnestrovian Supreme Soviet and one of the leaders of the opposition party Renewal
Renewal (Transnistria)
Renewal or Renovation , a pro-business political party in Transnistria. Since the legislative elections of 2005 it is the majority party in the Transnistrian Parliament but in opposition to the current PMR President Igor Smirnov.It was founded as a political NGO in 2000 and campaigned under its...
.
Yevgeny Shevchuk is a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
who has worked in government and private business. His biography profile describes him as "social democratic technocrat
Technocracy (bureaucratic)
Technocracy is a form of government where technical experts are in control of decision making in their respective fields. Economists, engineers, scientists, health professionals, and those who have knowledge, expertise or skills would compose the governing body...
with a European outlook, and a man of profound democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
beliefs". As part of the minority opposition in parliament prior to December 2005, he spearheaded a reform drive by his party to introduce changes to Transnistria's electoral code. Among the changes were a requirement that purely technical qualifications be used as the basis for selecting polling station chairmen and a rule prohibiting state-owned media outlets (radio, TV, newspapers, etc.) from publishing results of polls and forecasts related to elections, so as to not influence free voter choice. This was reported in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005.
In a 2005 report the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
referred to Shevchuk in the context of democratic reform, noting that Transnistria is moving towards more pluralism and highlighted the Transnistrian parliament's own initiatives on the reform of the political system which were spearheaded by Shevchuk's bloc.
On 22 July 2009, Shevchuk resigned from his post as speaker of parliament. Anatoly Kaminski, who was vice-speaker under Shevchuk and is vice chairman of Shevchuk's Renewal party, was the only nominee to succeed him. Mikhail Burla
Mikhail Burla
Mikhail Porfirovich Burla is a politician in Transnistria and the chairman of the country's main opposition party, Renewal .He is a member of Transnistria's parliament, where he has been vice-speaker since 22 July 2009, and an ally of fellow...
, leader of Renewal and Chairman of the Committee for economic policy, budget and finance, was elected as the new vice-speaker. Shevchuk cited a controversial attempt to revise the county's constitution
Constitution of Transnistria
The current Constitution of Transnistria was approved by national referendum on 24 December 1995, and signed into law by the President of Transnistria on 17 January 1996. As part of the territory's move towards market based reforms, it was modified on 30 June 2000.The constitution provides for a...
by president Igor Smirnov
Igor Smirnov
Igor Nikolaevich Smirnov , is the President of the internationally unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, also known as Transnistria. He has held this post since 1990.- Childhood :...
as the main reason for his resignation.