2014 Donbas general elections

Elections of deputies to the Supreme Soviet of the Donetsk People's Republic, along with elections for the chief executive of the DPR, took place on 3 November 2014. A central election commission was established to organise the election, and prepared 3.2 million paper ballots. People who were at least thirty years old and who "permanently resided" in the DPR in the previous ten years were electable for terms of four years, and public organisations could nominate candidates. The article also mentioned that those pro-Ukrainian people who remained in the region were forced to "keep quiet in an atmosphere of fear, in which those suspected of pro-Kyiv sympathies could be arrested or worse." Candidates and political parties Three candidates vied for the position of DPR chief. These were Aleksandr Zakharchenko, Yuri Sivokonenko, and Aleksandr Kofman. Two political parties contested seats in the parliamentary elections: Donetsk Republic and Free Donbas. Whilst the Communist Party of the Donetsk People's Republic had planned to participate in the elections, it was not allowed to participate because it "made too many mistakes in its submitted documents". It endorsed Aleksandr Zakharchenko. Pavel Gubarev and his New Russia Party, along with other parties, were banned from participating because they "were not able to hold a founding conference", had "purported errors in their documents", or had "not notified the central election commission of the conference at which the party had been founded". According to The New York Times, these billboards suggested "a tight race between Aleksandr Zakharchenko and Aleksandr Zakharchenko". DPR chief candidate Yuri Sivokonenko said "I didn't ask people to vote for me, because I don't have any differences in principle with Zakharchenko". 53% of those polled supported Aleksandr Zakharchenko, whereas only 7% supported Yuri Sivokonenko, and 6% supported Alexander Kofman. Another survey, conducted by SOCIS, found that 51.3% of those polled supported Zakharchenko, 5.1% supported Sivokonenko, and only 0.8% supported Kofman. With regard to the parliamentary elections, a survey by the Donetsk State University of Management found that 48% of those polled supported the "Donetsk Republic" party, whilst 11% supported the "Free Donbas" party. A survey by SOCIS found that 39.1% of those polled supported Donetsk Republic, whilst 31.6% supported Free Donbas. Results Roman Lyagin, head of the DPR central election commission, announced the results of the election on 3 November. Chief executive elections (DPR) Parliamentary elections (DPR) ==Luhansk People's Republic==

Elections to the Supreme Soviet of the Luhansk People's Republic, along with elections for chief of the LPR, took place on 3 November 2014. In the LPR, residents that were of eighteen years of age were allowed to vote at more than 100 polling places. Five polling places were opened at Donbas refugee camps in Russia. A central election commission was created to organise the election, led by Sergei Kozyakov. He stated on 31 October that early voting turnout at mobile polling stations ranged from 90% to "not enough ballots". The commission refused to register multiple parties and candidates on technical grounds, and one of these refusals led to violent clashes that left three people injured. Chief executive elections (LPR) Parliamentary elections (LPR) ==Legitimacy==

According to the text of the Minsk Protocol, local elections in Donbas were meant to be held in early December, in compliance with Ukrainian law. The Russian ambassador, Zakharchenko, and Plotnitsky signed the Protocol. Five days after signing a follow-up memorandum on the implementation of the Minsk Protocol, DPR and LPR authorities announced that they would hold their own elections in November. The United States and the European Union quickly condemned the elections. According to Burkhalter, the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine attempted to raise this issue with the DPR and LPR authorities in a video conference on 31 October, but DPR and LPR representatives did not respond. Foreign observers The Donetsk People's Republic central election commission said that 50 foreign observers monitored the elections. Most of these observers were far-right politicians and activists, and were said to come from Russia, Abkhazia, France, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Israel and the United States. Two organisations were involved in setting up this observer mission. These were the Eurasian Observatory for Democracy and Elections (EODE), run by the Belgian far-right activist Luc Michel, and the European Centre for Geopolitical Analysis (ECGA), run by Polish far-right politician Mateusz Piskorski. No monitors from the OSCE were present on election day, and the creation of the similarly named "ASCE" was widely viewed as farcical. One of the members of the organisation, Austrian far-right politician Ewald Stadler, later admitted that it did not legally exist. ==Reactions==

• – Head of the DPR election commission Roman Lyagin said "Kiev has to come to terms with the idea that Donbas is not part of Ukraine...whether they will recognise the result of our vote or not is Kiev's problem". Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov maintained on 5 December that the elections were "exactly within the range in which they had been negotiated in Minsk". • – Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko said that the elections were "a farce at gunpoint", and "a gross violation" of the Minsk Protocol. He said that Ukraine would never recognise either of the breakaway republics. President Petro Poroshenko said that his country is rearming and deploying new units to the country's east to oppose any attempt by pro-Russian rebels to take over more territory. Ukrainian security officials claimed that Russia has intensified the transfer of troops and military equipment to separatist rebels. Poroshenko said he would ask parliament to suspend a law that would give the breakaway regions a "special status". ==See also==