Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairman Mykhailo Okhendovsky has discussed with representatives of the OSCE the preparations for the early parliamentary elections in Ukraine.
Okhendovsky met with special coordinator of OSCE short-term observer mission, Vice President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Kent Harstedt on Tuesday, the CEC press service reported.
The CEC chair talked about the preparation for holding the elections in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in particular the part of their territory which is controlled by illegal armed groups – terrorist organizations – the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics. According to preliminary forecast, the elections can be held in 13 of the 21 electoral districts in Donetsk region and in five out of the 11 constituencies in Luhansk region.
‘Unfortunately, the preparation for the elections in those districts and towns which are now controlled by terrorist groups is still impossible,’ he said.
However, Ukraine’s citizens who were forced to leave the East of the country, will be able to temporarily change the place of voting without changing their electoral address and vote under the simplified procedure laid down by the law drawn for the residents of Crimea, Okhendovsky said.
He also expressed his regret that the Verkhovna Rada failed to pass the amendments to the law on the parliamentary elections in Ukraine, as they were called to address the challenges caused by the current situation in the country. The CEC head expressed the hope that the parliament would manage to hold a special meeting to adopt these amendments.
Harstedt, for his part, said that members of the OSCE short-term observer mission were willing to monitor Ukraine’s parliamentary elections, including abroad – in the Ukrainian Embassy in Moscow and the general consulates in Rostov-on-Don and St. Petersburg in Russia.
Okhendovsky assured him that the CEC would help the mission in this matter.
