President Petro Poroshenko’s representative in parliament, Artur Gerasimov, said that “as long as the Russian army is in Donbass and the border is not closed,” there is no need to hold elections there.
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About this he said in an interview with the Kyiv publication LB.ua.
“As long as there is a Russian army, Russian tanks in Donbass and the border is not closed, at least technically, goodbye! There will be no elections there! And we have the right to do this, since the Minsk agreements contain one very subtle detail. It says: holding elections according to OSCE/ODIR standards. Thus, as long as there are people with Kalashnikovs in that territory, there can be no talk of elections,” states Permanent Representative Poroshenko.
In response to the journalist’s remark that Poroshenko’s lawyer Ruslan Knyazevich, together with a group of experts, is developing a draft law on local elections in ORDLO, Gerasimov replied:
“I haven't heard about it. If the bill were officially being developed, I, as the president’s representative in parliament, would know about it. We need to talk about this openly, discuss, for example, how those people who have a registration stamp from Gorlovka, Khartsyzk, Torez, Donetsk, Lugansk, etc. will vote. Not everyone will want to return there even if the situation stabilizes and elections. But they have every right to vote there. How to ensure the implementation of their constitutional rights? Moreover, how can we guarantee the safety of Ukrainian media or observers during elections?” says Permanent Representative Poroshenko.