Holding elections in the temporarily occupied territory of Donbas is impossible without ensuring security, said Oleh Didenko, the head of the Central Election Commission (CEC).
“Are elections possible in Donbas after all? In my opinion, it is impossible to do now. It is necessary to ensure security to hold them there,” Didenko said in an interview with Focus ezine.
According to him, Ukraine should take control of the state border, and foreign armed forces from this territory must be withdrawn.
“In addition, it is necessary to legislatively resolve this issue. We have a law on the legal regime in temporarily occupied territories, which clearly states that elections in temporarily occupied territories are not held. In order to at least theoretically talk about the conduct of elections in these territories, we need to adopt another law. This is the competence of the Verkhovna Rada. It is difficult to predict what procedures it will foresee,” said Didenko.
