The German Ambassador predicted, when in the occupied Donbas elections can be held
Elections at the Donbass can be done even under the supervision of the Russian military.
This was stated by Ambassador extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany to Ukraine Ernst reichl in an interview with “RBC-Ukraine”.
“If the Ukrainian side insists that to hold the elections after she completely take control of the situation in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, then it means that Russia must fulfill almost all those provisions that depend on it, and only after that will the implementation of important for Russia requirements. Without a doubt, it is quite difficult to imagine the holding of local elections without security,” he said.
According to Reichel, it all depends on conditions and circumstances, however it is necessary to make elections possible.
“Can you give a historical example. The last parliamentary elections in the GDR, which was supposed to replace the Communist regime, took place in the presence of the Western group of Soviet troops and the then Communist regime in the GDR. But the election led to his change. I’m certainly not saying that the situation in the Donbas are identical”, – the Ambassador added.
Separately, he also stressed that elections should be held in those conditions, which will meet European standards.
“Therefore, safety and other requirements in the electoral process are essential. Any Ukrainian politician must be able without fear to carry out his campaign. And if this is not possible, then such elections can’t meet the standards. But not necessarily that the elections in the Donbass can take place only when there will be no Russian troops or at each of the city administration will be posted Ukrainian flag,” – he concluded.
Earlier, the Donbas militants at gunpoint staged a rehearsal of the local “elections”. The leader of the militants said that because of the “primaries” they want to show the world if you can “in a civilized way to conduct elections.”