Monitoring Report of the Activity of the Verkhovna Rada 13th Session 9th Convocation

Summary

Key performance indicators of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine during the 13th session of the 9th convocation:

700 draft laws were registered, of which:

1. 7 (1%) European integration draft laws;
2. 45 (6.4%) draft laws on the consent to or denunciation of international treaties;
3. 8 (1.1%) urgent draft laws.

119 draft laws were adopted in their entirety, of which:

1. 9 (7.6%) European integration draft laws;
2. 17 (14.3%) laws on ratification of international treaties;
3. 3 (2.5%) laws were identified by the President as urgent.

The President vetoed (and submitted his proposals) two draft laws. Four draft laws were adopted after a veto during the 13th session.

42 laws were adopted in their entirety after the first reading (35.3%) and 77 laws — after the second reading (64.7%).

Monitoring of the work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine during the 13th session of the 9th convocation revealed five key trends: 

Unusual Governmental Dynamics Caused by the Change of Government

The 13th session of the 9th Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine was marked by a change of Government, which left its imprint on all areas of the Parliament’s work. 353 draft laws submitted by the Shmyhal Government were withdrawn. Some of them were re-registered by the Svyrydenko Government. Together, these two governments registered 22.7% of draft laws, which is the highest figure for the entire 9th convocation. More than half of them were registered after 17 July 2025. Thus, the new Government registered more draft laws in one and a half months than the previous Government did in five months. However, new draft laws require new committee meetings and expert opinions, so the share of adopted governmental laws, on the contrary, decreased. This also affected the relatively small number of laws adopted during the 13th session — 119 (the lowest indicator for spring sessions of the Verkhovna Rada during the full-scale invasion). All governmental draft laws adopted were initiated by the Shmyhal Government, while no draft law initiated by the Svyrydenko Government was adopted during the 13th session.

Signs of Legislative Spam

Evidence of legislative spam caused by the submission of low-quality MPs’ draft laws during the 13th session is reflected in several indicators at once. The 700 draft laws registered during the 13th session represent the second-highest figure since the start of the full-scale invasion. Of course, this is partly explained by the re-registration of governmental draft laws already mentioned, but not only by this. The Restoration of Ukraine group continues to maintain an extraordinary pace of lawmaking, registering almost six draft laws per MP. At the same time, the share of MPs’ draft laws with only one signatory set a record for the entire 9th convocation, reaching 45%. In other words, almost every other draft law has only one signatory, which is an indirect indicator of low quality. Such high figures for draft law registration reinforce the thesis about legislative spam against the backdrop of the lowest number of laws adopted in spring sessions of the Verkhovna Rada during the full-scale invasion.

Record-Slow Passage of Draft Laws

Two record-breaking lows of the 9th convocation were set during the 13th session. MPs’ draft laws took an average of 110 days to pass from registration to adoption in the first reading and in their entirety (three times longer than in the previous session). Meanwhile, governmental draft laws took an average of 418 days from registration to adoption in the second reading and in their entirety, thus completing the legislative backlog of the Shmyhal Government (which itself set a record for the longest tenure of a Prime Minister).

Record Violations

Another record was set by the President of Ukraine. The share of violations of the constitutional procedure reached 47% during the 13th session. Almost every second law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada was either signed in violation of the deadlines or not signed at all. The share of ordinary violations of the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada in the course of the passage of draft laws in the second reading also increased — two-thirds of such procedures were violated.

Strengthening of Parliamentary Oversight

An unambiguously positive observation of the 13th session is the increase in the quantitative indicators of parliamentary oversight. The total duration The average duration also increased, amounting to 72 minutes. of the ‘Government Question Hour’ during the 13th session reached 11 hours, exceeding any indicators recorded during the full-scale invasion. The number of answers provided by government officials to questions was also the highest since the start of the full-scale invasion, amounting to 276 answers (speeches). The Verkhovna Rada established eight temporary commissions during the 13th session, which is a record not only for the period of the full-scale invasion but also for the entire 9th convocation. MPs also submitted 303 inquiries, the largest number during the full-scale invasion.

Route through the Monitoring Report*

This monitoring report of the activity of the 13th session of the 9th Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine consists of a summary, six units and annexes. *To learn more about each unit, please follow the links below:

1. legislative activity: the total number of registered draft laws and laws, their breakdown by initiators and groups of signatories;
2. passage of draft laws: breakdown of laws by readings of adoption, deadlines for submitting opinions of the main committees, timeframe from registration to adoption of the law, including by readings and initiators;
3. plenary time: total time spent on consideration of draft laws in the VRU, distribution of time for consideration of draft laws according to the initiator and the time required for consideration of the draft law in the session hall;
4. committees: total number and breakdown by initiators of opinions on dismissal, number of committee meetings and their workload in accordance with the number of registered draft laws and submitted opinions on draft laws, including the workload per committee member and secretariat staff member;
5. violations of the Rules of Procedure: the number of violations of the Rules of Procedure in relation to draft laws and proposals of the President of Ukraine;
6. the oversight function of the Verkhovna Rada: indicators of the ‘Government Question Hour’, the number of temporary commissions and the number of MPs’ inquiries.

Annexes contain lists of draft laws included in the ranking, which is based on various quantitative indicators (e.g., number of days from registration to adoption).