Lugansk parliamentarians suggest conducting local elections in Donbass on November 2

An initiative group of seven parliamentarians of the People’s Council of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) has suggested holding municipal elections in Donbass on November 2 2015.

“We suggest holding the local elections in the territories of our republics (LPR and DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic)) on November 2 2015. We had already conducted presidential election and elections to the People’s Council a year ago on that very day – Nov 2 2014. The elections were held without any violations, in the presence of international observers and in line with democracy principles,” says Oleg Akimov, member of LPR People’s Council.

The parliamentarian says the major obstacle to the elections in Donbass is unwillingness of the Kiev authorities to hold a peaceful dialogue. He says Ukraine’s Supreme Rada should cancel the decisions adopted on March 17 and launch discussions on the election-related issues with representatives of the two republics in conformity with the points 4,12, and 13 of the “Set of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements.”  Akimov says the LPR parliamentarians are ready to discuss the modalities of the elections and he hopes for Kiev’s sooner response.

Earlier, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said decentralization is possible only after municipal elections, but “we are not talking about any postponement of the elections.”

“Decentralization implies a transfer of the lion's portion of powers to territorial communities, which I hope will eventually happen after the local elections,” the president said at a meeting with officials of the Ternopil region's state administration on April 2.

According to the recommendation of the Supreme Rada relevant committee, local elections in Ukraine will be held on the last Sunday of October.