People’s Servant MPs to consider local elections in occupied Donbas

MPs with the pro-presidential People’s Servant
parliamentary faction will meet this week to discuss the registered resolution
to amend the local election law to allow for voting in the occupied districts
of Donbas, its head David Arakhamia told a television political talk show on
Sept. 14. Oleksiy Reznikov, the deputy head of the Ukrainian delegation to the
Trilateral Contact Group, is invited to this meeting “to bring full
transparency to this issue,” Arakhamia said, adding that the resolution’s
review is planned for the Sept. 18 session.

The statement
of Dmitry Kozak, Russia’s lead negotiator to resolve the war in
Donbas, claiming that Ukrainian officials agreed on Sept. 11 in Berlin to
approve legislation to make local elections in Donbas possible in October is
“purely a political statement,” Arakhamia said. “On the other hand, if we
approve this, it will unblock many other processes on the path to peace, a
Normandy (Four) meeting, and other such things. And now we need to choose. We
will organize parliamentary discussions with all the factions,” he said.

Zenon Zawada: The mere
fact that Arakhamia is urging MPs to consider what some perceive to be the
positive aspects of holding local elections in occupied Donbas in October
should be disturbing to Ukraine’s pro-Western forces. Not only are the basic
conditions not in place for this measure (Ukrainian control of the border,
disarming the territories, equal participation of political forces, among many
others), but the local officials currently in place (and controlled by Russia)
have no intention of holding honest elections even if they were.

We don’t expect enough MPs will be foolish enough
to support such a reckless measure, especially when so little time is left to
organize local elections in occupied Donbas (the nationwide vote is scheduled
for Oct. 25). Doing so would throw the country into a political crisis and
spark much social unrest. Meanwhile, Arakhamia has shown he is capable of being
dragged into reckless political endeavors (almost certainly by the President’s
Office).