The Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) head Igor Plotnitsky has said that local elections in Ukraine were held with gross violation of OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) standards and democratic procedures.
“Local elections in Ukraine on October 25 were held with gross violations. Independent observers registered a record number of instances of bribery and intimidation, falsifications during and after voting. [Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko has ignored criticism from OSCE’s ODIHR [Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights] toward the law on election. This organization pointed to the law’s vagueness and complexity, internal contradictions, incoherence with democratic standards,” Luhansk Inform Center quoted Plotnitsky as saying.
“The Minsk Agreements require holding election in Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics in accordance with OSCE standards and Ukrainian laws,” he added. “We see that Ukraine cannot and does not want to follow OSCE standards on its own territory. Election was completely disrupted in the largest city in the Donetsk Republic – Mariupol. The same happened in Krasnoarmeysk. That is why they have nothing to do at our future elections. We will hold them by ourselves in accordance with OSCE standards and under ODIHR monitoring. And we will write the election law for Ukraine by ourselves as well,” Plotnitsky said.
“It is obvious that they [Kiev authorities] can neither write good laws that adhere to OSCE demands nor enforce them. They should first learn to follow OSCE standards themselves, and then teach others,” he stressed.
Local election were held in Ukraine on October 25. Polling stations did not open in Mariupol and Krasnoarmeysk due to problems with bulletins. Elections commissions later recognized election in Luhansk Regions’ Lisichansk and Svatovo as invalid. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada will have to introduce amendments to the law that stipulate holding election in these settlements during the second round.
