You're reading: Ukraine to hold local elections on Oct. 25 on government-controlled territory

Ukraine has officially scheduled local elections on government-controlled territory for Oct. 25.

On July 15, parliament passed the decree scheduling the vote. According to the document, elections on territories occupied by Russia will take place only after all illegal military formations disarm and Ukraine regains control over its official border with Russia.

Since 2014, Russia has illegally controlled Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the country’s east. Russia has full control of the border between itself and the occupied territories.

In total, 326 lawmakers supported the decree. They represented all political parties except the 44-member pro-Russian Opposition Platform – For Life party. 

The decree buries President Volodymyr Zelensky and Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak’s idea to hold simultaneous elections in all Ukrainian regions, including the occupied territories.

“It would be logical if (local) elections were to take place in Donbas simultaneously with the rest of Ukraine,” Yermak said back in February. “We have a clear plan for what should be done for these elections to be held in late October.” He later repeated such claims on multiple occasions.

In October 2019, Zelensky agreed to the so-called Steinmeier Formula, named after German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, which would give wider self-governance to the occupied regions of Donbas in return for holding local elections under Ukrainian law.

During a December meeting in Paris as part of the Normandy Format negotiations, the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany included the formula in their eventual communiqué.

However, soon Russia began demanding constitutional changes to enshrine the special, self-governing status of the occupied Donbas into Ukraine’s constitution and stated that the border between Russia and its proxies in Ukraine will be handed back to Ukraine only after the elections.

Russian proxies also continue to fire on Ukrainian forces in the region. On July 13, Russian proxies killed a Ukrainian paramedic who was trying to help a Ukrainian soldier injured on the frontline. A day later, 7 Ukrainian soldiers were injured.

Now, according to the decree, Russian proxies must disarm before Ukrainian local elections can take place on the occupied territories.

On the territory controlled by Ukraine, elections will be held on all levels of local government, from village heads to mayors of large cities and oblast councils.

The election would be the first since the start of decentralization, a reform tasked with giving more powers to Ukrainian regions.

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According to the decentralization reform, small villages are to unite into combined amalgamated communities of around 20,000 people. Called hromadas, these communities will have similar powers to small cities and will be allowed to keep 100% of property taxes and taxes on independent entrepreneurs.

Hromadas also will keep 60% of income taxes, something that only regional capitals enjoyed in the past.