KIEV, June 23. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Samopomich (Self-Help) parliamentary faction is preparing amendments to the law on local elections introducing a list of Donbas towns and villages where elections won’t be held, the parliament’s vice speaker said on Tuesday.
"Local elections should not be held there as this is not safe," Oksana Syroyed told reporters.
The vice speaker reiterated that local elections due in Ukraine on October 25 should not take place on the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that are not controlled by Kiev.
Elections can be held only on condition of their "transparency and control of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)," she said.
The February 12 Minsk deal brokered after marathon talks between the leaders of the Normandy Four countries (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine) envisages carrying out a constitutional reform in Ukraine.
The reform is aimed at decentralization of power and ensuring the special status of certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. The document’s point 12 says that issues related to local elections will be discussed and coordinated with the representatives of Donbas areas as part of the Contact Group.
Under this document, official representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics on May 13 unveiled their proposals to the constitution concerning their special status as part of Ukraine that detail their rights and duties.
On June 8, additional proposals were made related to the terms of powers of the current authorities in the republics, but Kiev has not yet officially responded to them.
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