The initial version of the Constitution of Ukraine established a form of government that can be classified as mixed republican only conditionally. Elements of presidentialism inherent in this form of government indicate a significant distortion of the essence of a mixed republic. The form of government fundamentally limited the influence of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the executive branch and administratively subordinated it to the President of Ukraine. Securing the leading role of the President of Ukraine in the state mechanism, the form of government did not establish some of the fundamentally important elements of a mixed republic. Despite the obvious functional similarity of the form of government with the presidential republic, it was not identical to it. This form of government did not show a “rigid” separation of powers and anticipated the institutions that were atypical for a presidential republic. Therefore, the form of government established by the primary edition of the Constitution of Ukraine cannot be defined either as a mixed republican or presidential. This atypical form of government occupied, in fact, an intermediate position between these two types of republic. The amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine dated on December 8, 2004 brought the form of government closer to a “full-fledged” mixed republic and, on the whole, ensured its compliance with the criteria of a parliamentary-presidential republic. The form of government limits the influence of the President of Ukraine on the executive branch in favor of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The parliamentary method of forming the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and its parliamentary responsibility have shifted the center of political attraction to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. By changing the mechanism of government accountability to society, the form of government makes it possible to identify the parties whose political course is carried out by the Government. The amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine dated on December 8, 2004 eliminated the administrative subordination of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to the President of Ukraine and ensured a real dualism of the executive branch. At the same time, the existing form of government demonstrates a number of serious defects and it is filled with the risks of constitutional conflicts. In the Fundamental Law, the mechanism of interaction between the highest bodies of the state is regulated fragmentarily, and their competence relationships are contradictory. As a result, in conditions of party confrontation, the form of government significantly loses its functionality. The construction of a “full-fledged” mixed republic in Ukraine requires the constitutional consolidation of its most important elements in its natural form.

Ardan F., Francija: gosudarstvennaja sistema, Moskva 1994.

Konstytutsiina reforma v Ukraini: perebih, stan i perspektyvy. Analitychna dopovid. “Natsionalna bezpeka i oborona” 2007, № 1.

Pidsumky i problemy diialnosti vlady za novoi Konstytutsii, priorytety podalshoho rozvytku konstytutsiinoho protsesu. “Natsionalna bezpeka i oborona” 2007, № 1.

Shapoval V, Forma derzhavnogho pravlinnja jak konstytucijnyj modus vivendi suchasnoji derzhavy “Pravo Ukrajiny” 2009, № 10.

Shapoval V., Vykonavcha vlada v Ukraini u konteksti formy derzhavnoho pravlinnia (dosvid do pryiniattia Konstytutsii Ukrainy 1996 roku), “Pravo Ukrajiny” 2016, № 3.

Vysnovok Komisii za demokratiiu cherez pravo (Venetsianskoi komisii) “Pro konstytutsiinu sytuatsiiu v Ukraini” vid 17-18 hrudnia 2010 r., http://zakon3.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/994_a36.

Zakharov Ye. Pochatok lehitymnoho konstytutsiinoho protsesu?, http://www.helsinki.org.ua.