Local elections that will not be held in Donetsk and Luhansk regions on October 25 for safety reasons could take place on the same day as those to be held in the self-proclaimed republics in accordance with the Minsk agreements, says Mykhailo Okhendovsky, the chairman of the Ukrainian Central Election Commission.

"There are reasons for cautious optimism in the context that these elections could be held at the same time as local-council ones in the so-called certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. These are the elections which are stipulated in the Package of Measures agreed upon in Minsk," he said at a briefing on Friday.

"Once elections in the certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are scheduled, then there will be reasons to talk of a mechanism of implementation of the active voting right for temporarily displaced persons," Okhendovsky added.