KIEV, July 27. /TASS/. Head of the Donetsk military-civil administration (appointed by President Poroshenko) Pavel Zhebrovsky said the elections in the region should be organised not earlier than in 2017.
"My position is that the local elections are not organised either in the territory controlled by the Ukrainian authorities," he said in an interview to Ukraine’s LIGABusinessInform web edition.
"Before 2017 we should complete an administrative-territorial reform and after that to have the local elections, and not just elect deputies, but to transfer the rights and responsibilities to those newly-organised communities," he said. "This is the decentralisation, about which our European counterparts are speaking, and in this form should be working the local power."
He said he had close contacts with people living in territories, which are not controlled by the central Ukrainian authorities.
"Among those people 70% want only one - peace. The people are demoralised, disintegrated and disoriented. What choice can they make? This is why my suggestion is to have military-civil administrations. The region is at war," he said, confirming the opposition has much support in Donbas. "The Opposition bloc enjoys support here, they are working hard on it. But I am convinced they would not gain the majority in the local legislatures."
The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising senior representatives from Russia, Ukraine and European security watchdog OSCE on February 12, 2015, signed a 13-point Complex of Measures to fulfil the September 2014 Minsk agreements.
The Complex of Measures (Minsk-2), earlier agreed in the Belarusian capital with leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France, envisaged a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias starting from February 15.
Based on September’s stillborn Minsk peace protocol, the deal also laid out a road map for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including local elections and constitutional reform to give the war-torn eastern regions more autonomy.
Among the terms of the deal was a commitment to intensify the work of the Contact Group. Four subgroups, tasked with addressing security, political, economic and humanitarian issues, are expected to advance work by the Contact Group in activating elements of the Minsk deal.