You're reading: Mariupol authorities demand to hold local elections in the city

KYIV - The city council of Mariupol has sent its petition to Ukraine's Central Election Committee (CEC) on deciding the necessity of holding local elections in the city this autumn, as had been planned.

“Today, at 11:58 a.m. on August 28, 2015, the message with the text of our request was sent to the e-mail address of the CEC. The petition text was voted for at the plenary meeting of the Mariupol City Council on August 26, 2015, having the heading, The petition addressed to the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Central Election Committee on holding local elections,” the statement published on Friday on the official website of the city council said.

The city council petition says: “We decided to address the President, the Verkhovna Rada and the Central Election Committee of Ukraine with our request to undertake measures necessary to ensure the holding of fair and transparent local elections.”

Local elections are set to be held in Ukraine on October 25.

Meanwhile, the head of the Donetsk regional administration, Pavlo Zhebrivsky, proposed not to hold local elections either in Mariupol or the separate municipalities in the seven districts of his region that are within the 30km zone adjacent to the contact line in the combat operation’s area. He petitioned the CEC accordingly too.