Ukraine pins hopes for prosperous future on clearing out its brawling parliament
People board a tram near an election poster depicting Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, right, in the town of Mariupol, eastern Ukraine Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014. Ukraine's parliament elections are scheduled for Sunday Oct. 26. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)(The Associated Press)
A man walks past Soviet era emblems hanging on a wall near an entrance to the Azov steel factory in the Ukrainian government controlled town of Mariupol, eastern Ukraine Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014. Ukrainian parliamentary elections are on Sunday. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)(The Associated Press)
A man distributes flyers of candidates for the parliament elections in the Ukrainian government controlled town of Mariupol, eastern Ukraine Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014. Ukraine's parliament elections are scheduled on Sunday, Oct. 26 . (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)(The Associated Press)
A man walks past election posters of candidates for parliament elections in the town of Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday Oct. 22, 2014. Ukraine's parliament elections are scheduled for Sunday Oct. 26. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)(The Associated Press)
A man walks past an election poster depicting Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, left, in the town of Mariupol, eastern Ukraine Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014. Ukraine's parliament elections are scheduled on Sunday, Oct. 26 . (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)(The Associated Press)
KIEV, Ukraine Ukraine's parliament is something halfway between a wrestling pit and a shady backroom for hatching deals. Optimists believe Sunday's elections will change all that.
Voting in a fresh batch of deputies, they hope, could kick-start a nation hobbled by endemic corruption and reliant on creaking Soviet-built industry.
A simmering separatist war in the east, however, gives many others little faith in a fresh start. The pessimists argue that the conflict and the threat of Russian aggression have drawn attention away from a much-needed reform agenda.
"Politics seems to be too much in the rather business-as-usual mode, so the hope of rebooting the political system with these elections may be disappointed," said regional expert Andrew Wilson, author of "Ukraine Crisis: What it Means for the West."
The Verkhovna Rada, as Ukraine's single-chamber parliament is known, is a rowdy place at the best of times a perfect metaphor for a dysfunctional political scene. Debates more often than not descend into shouting matches and sometimes all-out brawls. With the country on the verge of an economic meltdown caused by the war and depleted cash reserves, some reinvention is in order.
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Ukraine pins hopes for prosperous future on clearing out its brawling parliament