KIEV, November 8. /TASS/. Ukraine’s parliament is ready to draft a special law on elections in Donbass, including on a majority system, but after Kiev restores control over the entire territory and the Ukrainian-Russian part of the border, Leonid Kravchuk, who heads the Ukrainian delegation in the Contact Group seeking peace for Donbass, said in an interview with TASS.
"The Verkhovna Rada is preparing this special law on elections. I don’t rule out that the law on elections could stipulate not necessarily a proportional system of parties. This could be a majority system. But these are my deliberations on this point," Kravchuk said.
However, the envoy stressed that passing this law and holding elections in the Donbass territories not controlled by Kiev was impossible in the current situation. "How can we hold elections where there are neither Ukrainian laws nor Ukrainian Constitution? How will Ukraine undertake responsibility and ensure safety of observers if we don’t control this territory?" Kravchuk said.
Meanwhile, even in the current situation Ukraine is ready to discuss creating conditions for holding local elections in Ukraine, he noted.
"At first, we suggest a synchronized demilitarization of this territory, the withdrawal of all illegal armed formations and weapons. At the same time Ukraine takes under its personal control the border and territory, without taking any steps today that could be carried out in six months or a year," he said, adding that this concerned steps on endorsing a law on specific conditions of Donbass local self-government.
"Later local power is formed after the elections. And this power starts acting together with Ukraine and the state takes responsibility for creating conditions for a normal but specific life of people on this territory given how they see this life and how they wish," Kravchuk explained. "We should take control of this territory and be responsible to the international community for how to hold elections and ensure that everything is in compliance with the law," he said.
Under point 9 of the Minsk Agreements, Kiev should obtain control over the part of border with Russia in Donbass only after the elections in certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.