#NoDefault: Ukraine leader's party faces crunch vote for IMF loans
By Ilya Zhegulev
KIEV (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is the first Ukrainian leader in history to command a single party majority in parliament but its strength will be tested next week as he urges lawmakers to pass reform bills needed to unlock a $8 billion aid package.
Ukraine faces a sharp economic hit from the coronavirus epidemic and parliament must pass banking legislation and lift a ban on the sale of farmland to qualify for a new loan deal from the International Monetary Fund.
A lawmaker in Zelenskiy's party, Nikita Poturaev, told Reuters he expected a "serious fight ahead" to pass the measures.
The banking law, which would prevent former owners of banks declared insolvent from regaining their assets, is seen as against the interests of Ihor Kolomoisky, a wealthy tycoon and an early backer of Zelenskiy's 2019 presidential campaign.
Kolomoisky used to co-own the country's largest lender, PrivatBank, until it was nationalised in 2016. He has fought a long legal battle against the government to win it back or receive compensation.
Zelenskiy said passing the bills was necessary to stave off default but the upcoming vote has spotlighted divisions in his Servant of the People party, which the former actor launched from scratch last year.
On the one hand, there is an informal grouping which champions the IMF deal and last week drove a social media campaign with the hashtag #NoDefault.
The grouping aims to rid Ukraine "of corruption and oligarchic influence", according to a document drafted by Poturaev, one of its members. It has also pressured Zelenskiy not to hold direct talks with Russian-backed separatists.
On the other hand, there are lawmakers associated with Kolomoisky, who has previously suggested the country default on its debts.
The new "IMF loan will be stolen, like all the previous ones", said Alexander Dubinsky, a lawmaker and journalist for Kolomoisky's 1+1 channel before entering parliament, on Telegram.
"As far as I understand, most deputies of "Servant of the People" are ready to support the 'anti-Kolomoisky' bill," said political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko. But the votes of one Servant of the People faction minus the deputies associated with Kolomoisky may not be enough, he wrote.
A lawmaker was one of the first people in Ukraine to test positive for coronavirus. Some might stay away from the upcoming parliament session either because they are also ill or because they fear infection, Fesenko said.
(Editing by Matthias Williams and Giles Elgood)
