CVU does not see chance of quickly organizing democratic elections in Donetsk and Luhansk regions
The public organization Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU) has said it does not see the possibility to quickly organize elections in Russia-occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions that would meet democratic standards.
"If we rely on the criteria of fair and democratic elections, these are primarily the criteria of the OSCE, we don't see the possibility of organizing these elections in a very short period of time that would meet democratic standards," CVU Director General Oleksiy Koshel said in Kyiv on Tuesday.
He noted that in order to organize a normal electoral process, in addition to the issue of the liberation of the occupied territories, a number of organizational issues, in particular, the issue of the state register of voters, which has not been updated in this territory for five years, must be resolved.
"We don't know who the voters are in the occupied territory, and those who remain in Russia. Therefore, such a complex document as the voter register cannot be fully renewed within a few months," said Koshel.
Also, in his opinion, the issue of access to the Ukrainian media is important, which must be ensured not only on election day, but throughout the election process.
"Therefore, to organize elections in the spring of next year is not feasible, since now there must be all the prerequisites for the election process to start," stated the head of the committee.
Koshel said organizing elections in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the autumn of 2020 "will depend on the speed of the processes regarding the regaining control over the occupied territories."
"Theoretically, we could talk about the elections for next fall," he said.
CVU is opposed to the fact that a special separate law is necessary for holding elections in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
"Today, the framework of the current legislation of Ukraine allows for a full-fledged election process, if we are talking about the free work of Ukrainian political parties, the work of Ukrainian media, if the leaders of political parties can freely come to Lugansk and Donetsk and vote, then we see no reason adopting a special law for this election," Koshel said.