In the Ukrainian part of Donbass, regionals compete in elections with Azov battalion commanders
Moscow - Kyiv, October 24 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) - The Party of Regions is not participating in the election campaign, but many of its representatives are trying to extend their parliamentary mandates. Special Correspondent "Kommersant" traveled through the regions of Donbass controlled by the Ukrainian army and became convinced that in most single-mandate constituencies it was the former “regionals” who could count on victory.
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There were 21 single-mandate constituencies in the Donetsk region. Voting will definitely not take place in eight - Donetsk, Makeevka, Starobeshevo and Shakhtersk. In the Lugansk region, six out of eleven single-mandate constituencies will remain without elections. All of them are controlled by the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR, respectively. Several more districts are divided by the front line; voting will take place here, but it is not a fact that deputies will be elected in these territories. In the Donetsk region, this applies to the districts where the centers were Gorlovka, Yenakievo, and Maryinka, reports Kommersant’s special correspondent.
According to the law, if at least one polling station opens in a district, the elections have already taken place, the publication recalls, so in these places the district centers were simply moved to settlements controlled by Ukraine. But if there is not a 20% turnout in the remaining territories, the elections will be declared invalid.
In the districts where elections will definitely take place, in most cases the incumbent deputies who previously represented the Party of Regions are claiming victory, the newspaper notes. The exception is one of the two Mariupol districts, from which the former Donetsk governor Sergei Taruta is elected to the Rada.
From Volnovakha, with a high degree of probability, the “regional”, ex-general director of the Donetskstal plant Alexander Ryzhenkov, will be re-elected to the Rada. From Dzerzhinsk - Igor Shkirya, former adviser to Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov on transport issues. Denis Omelyanovich, who showed no signs of himself in the last convocation, will try to be re-elected from Konstantinovka; self-nominated Dmitry Gritsun, who, according to Kommersant’s interlocutors, has secured the support of Dnepropetrovsk governor Igor Kolomoisky, can prevent him.
In most districts, commanders of volunteer battalions will try to compete with representatives of the Party of Regions. Several representatives of “Azov” were nominated by the “Popular Front” of Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
The picture is similar in those districts of the Luhansk region where elections will be held on Sunday. “Regionals” Yuri Ioffe and ex-mayor of Lisichansk Sergei Dunaev plan to confirm their mandates.
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