Elections in Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics put off for next year

The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics (DPR and LPR) are ready to put off their elections from Oct 18 and Nov 1, respectively, to the next year, the representatives of the republics to the Contact Group Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Deinego said after the last meeting of the Group in Paris.

“The Normandy Four has considered the LPR’s proposal to put off the elections till Feb 21 2016 on condition that Kiev fulfills all of the points of Minsk II. We first examined the statements made by Mrs. Merkel and Mr. Hollande in Paris and consulted with OSCE and Russian officials in Minsk and then were instructed by our leaders Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky,” Pushilin and Deinego said.

“Until then Ukraine will have to meet all of its Minsk II obligations: to grant Donbass a special status, not to persecute and punish people who have fought in the territories of the DPR and LPR, to draft a new version of constitutional amendments and to coordinate it with us,” Pushilin and Deinego added.

As EADaily reported earlier, on Sept 22 they conveyed to the coordinator of the Contact Group a road map on elections in their republics. The new date of the elections will be Feb 21 2016. The dates of the first rounds of the elections (the elections of mayors and governors) will not be changed – Oct 18 in the DPR and Nov 1 in the LPR.