On 30 August 2020 meeting of the Central Election Commission, it has adopted Resolution #208 on the Start of Local Election Elections scheduled for 25 October 2020. The introductory part of the Resolution says the CEC takes into consideration CEC's Resolution #161 of 8 August 2020 on the Impossibility to Hold the First Election of the Certain Village, Settlement, City Councils of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts and the Corresponding Village, Settlement, and City Heads on 25 October 2020.
Thus, the CEC announced the start of the election including Luhansk oblast, with the exception of 8 territorial communities on the territory controlled by Ukraine and 10 on temporarily occupied territories.
We would like to remind that the abovementioned Resolution #161 of 8 August determined holding election in territorial communities of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts as impossible. It has primarily concerned elections in Sievierodonetsk City Territorial Community, Lysychansk City Territorial Community, Popasna City Territorial Community, Hora City Territorial Community (Sievierodonetsk raion), as well as Schastia City Territorial Community, Shyroke Settlement Territorial Community, Stanytsia Luhanska Settlement Territorial Community, and Nyzhnioteple Settlement Territorial Community (Schastia raion). At the same time, military and civilian administrations are currently operating on the territory of Schastia, Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk (the last two has had military-civil administrations established in the end of July).
Resolution #161 has triggered an active resonance in the oblast and caused a number or rallies in the raion and beyond from 13 to 24 August. In response, the CEC has repeatedly applied to local oblast administrations and the military on 18 August to clarify the safety situation in Donbas. In particular, the inquiries were sent to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Luhansk and Donetsk Oblast State Administrations, the SBU, the National Police and the Joint Forces Operation.
The Head of Luhansk Oblast State Administration, the Chairman of the Oblast Military and Civilian Administration Serhii Haidai has commented on protests against the CEC's decision: "This is a political speculation by people used to buy votes just for sugar, and now the money spent on sugar is wasted".
Civil Network OPORA's Observation Coordinator in Luhansk Oblast Oleksii Kormiletskyi has emphasized: "In fact, the CEC's decision "excludes" about a quarter of a million voters from the election process. The situation in cities of oblast importance Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk is the most acute. Besides that, the latter has been acting as the administrative center of Luhansk oblast since 2014. At the same time, the failure to hold elections in these 8 communities of Luhansk oblast (on Ukraine-controlled territory) in October 2020 does not mean that elections in these communities are not going to be called within the next year if the authorities deem the security situation in these areas has stabilized."
OPORA calls on the competent authorities to make every effort to guarantee the voting rights of citizens and create conditions allowing local communities to realize the right for local self-government. At the same time, of course, the security factor must be fully studied and taken into account during the organization of elections, based on an unbiased and collegial analysis of the situation.
For comment, please contact:
Oleksii Kormiletskyi, Election Observation Coordinator at Civil Network OPORA in Luhansk oblast
tel.: 0502752808
Reference: OPORA's observation is aimed to provide impartial assessment of election administration and process, facilitate free and fair election, and prevent violations. Civil Network OPORA has been realizing a wide-scale observation of regular local elections, to be held on October 25. We have deployed 188 observers nationwide, and short-term observers will join them on the Election Day. OPORA also monitors the use of budget resources for indirect campaigning, and civic ombudsmen inspect polling premises in terms of accessibility, as well as protect voting rights of citizens.