Replacement on the list and possible departure: CEC recognizes Roman Kravets as a deputy
19 January 19:06
The Central Election Commission has recognized Roman Kravets, the next candidate on the Servant of the People party’s electoral list, as a member of parliament, according to Komersant.
The decision was made after the early termination of the powers of People’s Deputy Dmytro Natalukha, whom the Verkhovna Rada appointed as head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine.
What the CEC decided
According to the CEC, the commission received a parliamentary resolution dated January 14 on the resignation of Dmytro Natalukha. After reviewing it, the CEC recognized Roman Kravets, who was No. 153 on the Servant of the People party’s electoral list, as a member of parliament.
Thus, the mandate passed to the next candidate from the ruling party in order of precedence.
How long will Kravets remain in parliament?
However, the situation may change in the near future. According to sources close to People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak, Roman Kravets allegedly plans to renounce his parliamentary mandate. In this case, in accordance with the procedure, after 20 days, the CEC may proceed to recognize the next candidate on the party list as elected.
There is currently no official confirmation of these intentions from Kravets himself.
The “Joker” and his reputation
Roman Kravets’ name is widely known outside the electoral lists. The media has repeatedly linked him to the anonymous Telegram channel “Joker,” which appeared in 2019 and specialized in publishing compromising information, pranks, and media attacks.
Kravets himself later confirmed that he was the owner of this channel.
In the past, Joker published correspondence with MPs and officials. In 2022, in response to a parliamentary inquiry, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) included Joker in the list of pro-Kremlin resources used for destructive information activities.
Controversial story of the channel’s sale
In 2024, Kravets stated that he had sold the Joker Telegram channel back in 2022 to an unknown person for $2 million in cryptocurrency, but he did not provide any public evidence of this. In comments to journalists, he admitted that he maintains “friendly relations” with the new owner and can influence the channel’s content by requesting that posts be deleted or published.
