Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich's ruling party installed one of its parliamentary deputies as speaker on Thursday, December 13 despite brawls triggered by opposition attempts to block the vote, Reuters said.
Deputies wrestled with each other in a mass of bodies around the main rostrum in parliament after the opposition tried physically to prevent a vote on Volodymyr Rybak's nomination.
Backed by their traditional communist allies, Yanukovich's Party of the Regions secured 250 votes – 226 were required – backing Rybak, indicating they were also likely to succeed in approving Yanukovich's ally Mykola Azarov as prime minister.
In equally rowdy scenes on Wednesday, opposition deputies paralyzed the session by encircling the rostrum to sabotage the ruling coalition's plans to ease Azarov rapidly into a second term as prime minister.
The vote on Azarov's nomination – expected later on Thursday – will be an early test of the support that Yanukovich, who is expected to bid for a second term as president in 2015, commands in the new chamber.
