"It is simply unacceptable to talk about the application of the imperfect legislation to the electoral process in Donbas, how it is emphasized by the Ukrainian negotiators in the contact group. Moreover, a specific task has been written in a complex of measures that must be solved in cooperation between Kyiv, Donetsk and Luhansk – it is about a special law on local elections," Lukashevich said at a Moscow-Vienna video conference.
According to him, "the current Ukrainian legislation suffers from a number of conceptual flaws."
"As for the monitoring of the forthcoming elections in Donbas, we are talking about monitoring rather than preparations. These elections must be prepared by the parties to the conflict, i.e. Kyiv, Donetsk and Luhansk, practicing modalities of these elections, practicing law, which will specifically stipulate procedures for these local elections," Lukashevich said.
The role of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is to record the compliance of these elections with the standards, as it is noted in the complex of measures, after which the status of this region, which is temporary until now, should receive a "permanent registration," he said.
"That means that much will depend on the ODIHR on terms of monitoring and evaluation of these elections from the standpoint of those standards that are accepted in international practice," Lukashevich said.
