MinRegion is concerned about the situation in amalgamated hromadas of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, where the holding of the first local elections is actually postponed for an indefinite period. There are currently 11 such hromadas: seven in the Donetsk Oblast and four in the Luhansk one. The Central Electoral Commission for a long time does not appoint elections on these territories, referring to the fact that it is authorised to decide on the impossibility of holding local elections, if they can not be organised and conducted because of the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine.

In order to resolve this issue and develop a common vision of the situation a meeting, chaired by Vyacheslav Nehoda, First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services, was held in MinRegion, with the participation of all stakeholders – representatives of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblast Military-Civil Administrations, the CEC, the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories, MinRegion, Ministry of Defense, Security Service of Ukraine, specialised Parliamentary Committee, Administration of the President of Ukraine, Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

“The current legislation determines that rayon, oblast military-civil administrations, along with the exercise of powers of local state administrations in the respective territory, are also authorised to provide conclusions to the Central Electoral Commission regarding the possibility of organising and preparing elections of local self-government bodies. If the CEC has doubts about those 11 AHs regarding which it has received appeals from military-civil administrations, we suggest that administrations carry out comprehensive consultations, re-examine the situation and send relevant conclusions to the CEC,” emphasised Vyacheslav Nehoda.

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