While most Ukrainians will go to the polls on Oct. 25 to select mayors of cities, heads of villages and members of oblast councils, there will be no such local elections in the parts of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region that are occupied by Russia.
Elections will only be possible in the Russian-controlled parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts after a full deoccupation that will allow for Ukraine to take all necessary security measures and for the vote to adhere to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) standards, Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, said.
“The Ukrainian authorities are doing everything so that all Ukrainians’ dreams of peace reaching to our land will come true,” Yermak said on Sept. 18 on the TV talk show Svoboda Slova (“Freedom of Speech”) hosted by Savik Shuster.
Ukraine is currently holding peace talks with Russia within the Minsk and Normandy negotiation formats. So far, results are slim.
“We are in difficult negotiations,” Yermak said.
During the talks, Russian representatives have demanded that Ukraine hold local elections on the occupied territories while Russian-backed militants remain in control. However, the Ukrainian side believes that will only grant legitimacy to the occupation authorities.
In September, Dmitry Kozak, the Kremlin’s representative in the negotiations, announced that Ukraine had agreed to have the Verkhovna Rada consider a resolution altering the election plans and extending the vote to the occupied territories.
However, Yermak denied that the Ukrainian delegation had ever agreed to that.
On Sept. 17, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Dmytro Razumkov told Ukrainian media that it is currently impossible to hold elections on the occupied territories as there is no possible way to ensure a free and fair vote.
According to Razumkov, as long as the area is not under Ukrainian control, it will be impossible for all political parties’ candidates and the media to participate in the election.
“Elections are not an appointment. Elections cannot take place under the barrel of a machine gun. Elections mean the free will of the citizens,” Razumkov said. “And everything I have highlighted, unfortunately, cannot be accomplished on that territory.”
Other issues
Local elections are not the only challenge in Ukraine’s peace negotiations with Russia. Another issue is a potential general amnesty for participants in the conflict.
Former Prime Minister Vitold Fokin — who now serves as the first deputy head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group, which also includes Russia and the OSCE — said that a stable peace can come to the occupied territories only after a general amnesty.
But many worry that such an amnesty could allow war criminals and human rights violators to get off the hook.
Fokin says that’s not the case. Those who committed murder, rape or torture should not be forgiven. They should be investigated, and those found guilty should be punished, he told Ukrainian radio on Sept. 19.
