Donbas elections not possible for two years, election authorities say

Holding elections in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk will be impossible for the next two years, said on March 16 Andriy Mahera, the deputy head of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine. “I don’t believe that elections are possible not only in June 2016, but I doubt they can be held in June 2017,” he told the 5 Kanal television network.

Elections in Donbas will be possible only in five years, said on March 16 Oleksiy Koshel, the general director of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine. Holding them this year is unrealistic, and the pessimistic scenario would make them possible in ten years or later, he said, as reported by the pravda.com.ua news site. 

The EU doesn’t have intentions to drop its sanctions against Russia if Ukraine doesn’t organize elections in the occupied districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, said on March 16 Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, as reported by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. “What I see now is full understanding” of the Ukrainian position by the EU, he told reporters after the weekly Cabinet meeting. “Yes, there are voices in the EU that are calling for compromise and partial removal of sanctions and we’ll see how it works out.”

Zenon Zawada: Mahera would not have made his statement about Donbas elections being impossible for two years without the president’s approval. So we view this as the president laying the groundwork for eventually rejecting the demand for Donbas elections by the West, whether directly (less likely) or indirectly, such as a failed parliamentary vote on the Donbas election law.

Therefore, Poroshenko is hoping that the EU will keep its pressure (and sanctions) on Russia despite the failure of the Minsk accords. He is also hoping that Ukraine won’t be saddled with most of the blame when their failure becomes an officially recognized fact. Unfortunately, the West’s patience is slowly being chiseled away, not only by problems related to the Middle East but reports of corruption from within Ukraine. And it’s easier to blame the weaker party in a conflict.