Donetsk People’s Republic plans local elections for November

The Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) plans to print 600,000 ballots for primaries for local elections to be held on Nov. 6, reported on Sept. 24 the novosti.dn.ua news site, citing rebel leader Oleg Balykin. The date for the primaries wasn’t confirmed and rebel leaders insisted the voting isn’t in violation of the Minsk Accords and instead fulfills what the Ukrainian side failed to do, which is approve a local elections law. Critics said the primaries are intended to identify those in the public who oppose the DNR leadership.

Zenon Zawada: The Russian side will use the “elections” to point out how the Ukrainians failed to live up to their end of the Minsk Accords by approving a local elections law. The Ukrainian government didn’t want to approve the law that so as not to stir up an otherwise passive electorate. And the West didn’t pressure the Ukrainians to do anything so as not to disrupt what is currently a relatively stable situation with the war in Donbas.

So expect these elections to be held, with the standard posturing from both sides. Of course, the purpose of adopting the primaries political technology is to filter out any political threats once the final round of local elections are held, which must produce results that reaffirm the current leadership.