At the early parliamentary elections, only 1.3 million out of 3.3 million citizens living in Donetsk region will be able to vote in 9 out of 21 districts located on territory controlled by the Ukrainian army, according to the Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU).
“The issue is that nearly 2 out of 3.3 million voters of Donetsk region won’t be able to vote. I’m talking about the voters living on the territories controlled by separatists,” Head of Donetsk Department of the CVU Serhiy Tkachenko told Interfax-Ukraine.
“In fact, right now we can talk of more or less holding the elections in 9 out of 21 districts in Donetsk region,” he said.
According to Tkachenko, these include districts 46 (center in Artemivsk), 47 (Sloviansk), 48 (Kramatorsk), 49 (Kostiantynivka), 50 (Krasnoarmiysk), 57 and 58 (Mariupol), 59 (Maryinka) and 60 (Volnovakha).
According to him, there are a couple of other districts that are partially controlled by Ukrainian army, particularly those in Horlivka, Debaltseve and Dzerzhynsk.
“A statement came from Dzerzhynsk that district commission has started working there. Thus, the election may be held in district 52, at least within the limits of Dzerzhynsk town. If at least a couple of voting stations open and the district commission determines the election results in the district, it will be an achievement of those few voting stations,” the expert noted.
Therefore, the CVU supposes that the elections can be held in 10 districts at most.
According to Tkachenko, the MPs from Regions Party elected during the parliamentary elections in 2012 are running in the districts, where the elections can be held.
“These are all our MPs from Regions Party, who are now trying to get into parliament as well, but this time without the Regions Party, they are mostly self-nominated candidates,” the expert noted.
In addition, a number of MPs who had left Regions Party were nominated in the districts controlled by separatists.
“They are the candidates in districts with population areas almost completely occupied by DPR [the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic]. However, apparently, they count on something,” Tkachenko said.
According to CVU, at the elections the competition in Donetsk region districts will still be substantial, as candidates from Batkivschyna all-Ukrainian Union, Strong Ukraine party, public activists and others also participate in the elections.
“There’s an interesting trend: a number of candidates represent volunteer battalions. For example, in districts 57, 58, 59 and 60, representatives of Azov special battalion of police patrol service will try to win the confidence of the voters. All of them are candidates from People’s Front party. In theory, this situation brings changes to the socio-political-situation. I think these are worthy competitors that can contribute to the competition in the election process,” Tkachenko noted.
