So-called Donetsk People's Republic postpones elections
The so-called Donetsk People's Republic will postpone elections until October 30th. They were initially scheduled for July 24th.
"The elections will be postponed until the 30th of October, 2016 as a result of Kiev's failure to adhere to the Minsk agreements. The decree will be signed in the coming days. We hope that the Western partners of Kiev will force them to vote on the Electoral Act this year, which will be coordinated with us," the leader of the so-called DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko, said, RIA Novosti reported.
As it was previously reported, both the so-called Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic agreed to cancel the elections, scheduled for the 18th of October, 2015 and the 1st of November, 2015, after a meeting of the Normandy Four in Paris. First, Zakharchenko postponed the election until the 20th of March, 2016. However, a day later he established the election date as of the 20th of April, 2016. Later, the vote was postponed until the 24th of July, 2016.
Conducting elections in the Donbas region is one of the obligations stipulated by the Minsk Agreements. However, Ukraine demands that the ceasefire first be guaranteed at the front line and that an armed police mission of the OSCE be present.