Ukrainian Opposition Bloc ready to take part in elections in Donbass

The Opposition Bloc is ready to take part in the elections to be held in Donbass according to the Minsk agreements, member of the party Serhiy Levochkin told Inter TV on Sunday.

“We are ready to take part in such elections. We object to postponing them as it is the government’s duty to see to it that the country’s Constitution be fulfilled. There is only one mechanism for these elections – the election should be held and summed up by the Central Elections Commission of Ukraine according to the Ukrainian legislation,” Levochkin said.

“I mean not only new legislation but a new Constitution. I think that the time we have before the elections is enough for us to organize a constitutional reform,” Levochkin said.

On Mar 21, Ukraine adopted a law saying that some districts in Donbass may become self-governed by means of elections to be held according Ukrainian laws. But this law is contrary to the Minsk agreements.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that elections in Donbass might be held in 2015. But later the leader of the Opposition Bloc’s parliamentary group Yuri Boyko said that the pro-governmental forces wanted the elections to be put off till 2017. Boyko quoted some experts as saying that it was a problem for the Supreme Rada to revise the electoral code, while other experts believe that it was the initiative of the president and the prime minister to delay the elections as their ratings are slumping. For example, the rating of Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front is lower than the minimum necessary for the party to get into the parliament.