Why the February elections were announced: What are they planning in Donbass
The people's republics of Donbass, in the face of the intransigence of official Kyiv, which is doing everything to disrupt the Minsk process, continue to demonstrate political flexibility and the will to peacefully resolve the conflict.
Today before the start of the work of the Contact Group in Minsk LPR representative Vladislav Deinego made a statement thatthat the DPR and LPR will make proposals regarding the date of local elections.
If Kyiv begins to implement the Minsk agreements and begins a direct dialogue with the LDPR, observing all agreed deadlines, local elections in Donbass could be held on February 21, 2016.
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This does not mean, as some media hastened to write this morning, that the Novorossiysk republics have agreed to cancel the local elections scheduled for October 18 in the DPR and November 1 in the LPR. No.
Let me explain. In the fall, 17 heads of administration will be elected in the DPR, and 14 in the LPR. In Donbass, in addition to these elected positions, there are still 6 thousand left! These include deputies of local councils, village mayors or village elders, and other equally important positions. This is exactly what the leadership of Donbass is proposing to carry out, which is what Deinego made a statement about today.
Now the floor is up to Kyiv. Now it's his turn to show his flexibility.
Let me remind you that the DPR and LPR are consistent in the implementation of Minsk-2. Therefore, they correctly insist that, according to these agreements, official Kyiv is obliged to AGREE with them ALL changes to Ukrainian legislation, including the Ukrainian Constitution, which are spelled out in the final documents of Minsk-2.
The Donbass republics sent their proposals on May 13 to change the Ukrainian Constitution (in terms of decentralization) and change the electoral legislation.
These proposals were made on the basis of Ukrainian legislation.
However, the Verkhovna Rada ignored and did not take into account their proposals during the voting on the relevant laws. Therefore, the DPR and LPR declared that they could not accept such changes.
But, despite this, Donbass does not withdraw from the negotiation process and offers a compromise - a partial postponement of local elections to February 21. This is also being done to allow Kyiv to save face.
Official Kyiv must understand that the DPR and LPR are democratic republics, therefore the authorities, including local ones, must be legitimate, and this is why elections are needed. They are carried out precisely for this purpose, and not to annoy Poroshenko.
So now the word is up to Kiev.
PS When I wrote this column, a statement appeared from the representative of the DPR at the negotiations in Minsk and the acting Speaker of the People's Council of the DPR Denis Pushilin, in which he clearly states that the LDPR’s proposals to Kyiv to hold local elections on February 21 do not cancel the elections already scheduled in Donetsk for October 18 and in Lugansk on November 1. It’s just that the first stage of local elections will take place in the fall, and the second in February.
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