Self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk republics hold primaries
3 October 2016
The self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics held primaries on Oct. 2 as preparation for local elections to be held Nov. 6, which are not recognized internationally. More than 343,000 voters participated in the Donetsk vote, indicating a 30% voter turnout according to novosti.dn.ua, while more than 50,000 participated in Luhansk, according to RIA Novosti, which didn’t indicate a turnout figure. More than 30 “international observers” participated in the process that involved no Ukrainian political parties. Critics of the primaries said they are intended to identify political dissenters and persecute them.
Zenon Zawada: Plans to hold the local elections are intended as a public relations stunt by the Russian government to demonstrate to the Western public that Russia is abiding by the Minsk Accords in holding elections (even illegally), while the Ukrainian side is refusing to make an attempt at peace.
What’s intended to get lost in that message to the West is that the Ukrainians (and many Western officials) correctly view fair elections as impossible without withdrawing Russian soldiers, removing armaments and restoring Ukrainian control of the shared border.
It’s possible that this message will influence some people in the West next year as European business grows tired of the sanctions and the public increasingly calls for peace at any price, especially if Islamic terrorist attacks continue. But the elections in and of themselves don’t convince anyone of the legitimacy of the self-declared republics.
