Residents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) do not see worthy candidates in Ukraine's March 31 presidential election
DONETSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th March, 2019) Residents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) do not see worthy candidates in Ukraine's March 31 presidential election.
At the same time, they consider former Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko, who is a Ukrainian presidential candidate and the leader of the Opposition Platform-For Life party, to be the most acceptable for Donbas.
The presidential election will be held in Ukraine on March 31. The Ukrainian Election Commission has registered 39 candidates for this year's race.
According to sociological polls, comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy is leading in the presidential race, as his rating exceeded 30 percent a week before the election. Incumbent President Petro Poroshenko is expected to gain 17 percent of votes. He is followed by former Ukrainian Prime Minister and leader of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party Yulia Tymoshenko, who is projected to gain 12.5 percent of the vote. Boyko is projected to receive about 10 percent of votes.
As it was in the presidential election in 2014, the majority of Donbas residents, and this is about 3 million people, were actually deprived of their right to vote. There will be no voting in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). Their residents will be able to give their votes only if they come to the territory controlled by Kiev.
For this, residents of the republics need to cross the contact line through a checkpoint at least twice. The first time they need to do this to submit an application to change the place of voting, and the second time to give their vote on March 31. This means the waiting hours at the checkpoint and miles of roads.
There is no election fuss in Donetsk or other cities of the DPR over the upcoming presidential election in Ukraine. There are posters with advertising instead of campaign banners on the streets. People in transport and on the streets are not discussing the Ukrainian political situation, but pressing issues or the situation on the contact line. Some residents of the republic do not even know who is running for president.
"Look, I do not know who their candidates are. It is not interesting to me. Anyway, I do not care. I live in the DPR, and not in Ukraine. Let them choose who they want to. The main thing is that they leave us alone," Sofia from Donetsk said.
As Tatyana, another resident of Donetsk, admitted, before the conflict started, she had voted in all elections, as she had been convinced that her vote meant something and could affect the results. Now she claimed that even if she could vote, she would not do that.
"Who is there to vote for? There is no a worthy candidate. We chose the head [of the DPR, the elections took place in October 2018]. It is their business who will be elected there [on the territory controlled by Kiev], they will have to live with this president for the next five years. In general, I do not believe in fair elections in Ukraine under the current regime," Tatyana said, explaining her position.
A similar opinion was expressed by a resident of Donetsk, Igor. He would like to see a responsible, competent politician as the head of the Ukrainian state, who is focused on providing dialogue and bringing peace to Donbas. But in his opinion, there are no such politicians in Ukraine now.
"They [the candidates] were in power in 2014, but for some reason in all five years none of them did anything to stop the war, the deaths of people, children, and the destruction. I doubt that now anyone will do it," the man said.
In his opinion, all that politicians promise now is nothing more than election campaigning.
"Everyone wants peace, but they themselves are hitting us. Who is there to vote for? Who will allow me to vote? We have no place to vote for the Ukrainian president, and they say that we are Ukraine. Then where is my polling station? There is none," Alexey, a pensioner from Donetsk, complained.
'ANTI-RATING' LEADER POROSHENKO
If some residents of the republic find it difficult to say who they would vote for in the upcoming elections, then, answering the question who should not become president, they unanimously say that this is current Ukrainian President Poroshenko. This is him, who the residents of Donbas blame for the attacks that have been ongoing for the past five years.
"He is a murderer, not a president. For five years he and his lap-dogs have been doing everything to exterminate and destroy us. He should go to prison and not be a president," Tatyana said.
Svetlana, the resident of Makiivka, a city in Donetsk region, is also outraged.
"Everyone is watching how he lines his pockets, profits from the war, and we are naked and barefoot here. And they beat us, they kill us. And he still goes for second term," Svetlana told Sputnik.
The residents of Donbas even made the "Order of Judas" for Poroshenko. It was made of fragments of shells fired by Ukrainian security forces on the territory of the republic.
"More than 40 kilograms [88 pounds] of fragments were collected. The total weight of the order is 2.5 tonnes. Today was the first trip to Mayorsk checkpoint. The order will be placed on a tow truck at the checkpoint near the contact line for four days," the Donetsk Republic public movement told Sputnik.
The leader of the Batkivshchyna party Yulia Tymoshenko is also not very loved by the DPR residents. Many still remember her attitude toward the residents of the region long before the conflict and her words that Donbas should be enclosed behind barbed wire.
As for Zelenskiy, then, according to a student named Maksim, it would certainly not be boring to live with a comedian-turned-president.
"Why not? I would like to see Zelenskiy as president, and not only speaking in movies or in Kvartal 95 [Zelenskiy's studio that creates television shows, films and so on]. He is unlikely to lead the country to economic growth, but he can amuse us. As the saying goes, [man can't live] by bread alone," the student joked.
Not all residents of the DPR have lost faith that it will be possible to resolve the conflict in Donbas after the change of the regime in Kiev. Marina and her husband live in the DPR-controlled city of Horlivka, which is near the line of contact. She moved from the village of Chigiri in the neutral zone a year ago, when Ukrainian security forces occupied the settlement.
Marina considers Boyko to be the most acceptable candidate and she plans to go to the territory that is controlled by Kiev to vote for him on March 31.
"Things were good with us under [former Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych, under [Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola] Azarov, under Boyko. Boyko was the minister of the coal industry. My husband had a good salary, we bought a house in the village of Yuzhnoe in Chigiri. Then came the war and took everything from us. I have a little hope that if the previous leaders come back, those who ruled [the country] until 2014, then maybe something will get better and they will let us go. We will be able to live without a war here, by ourselves, without Ukraine," Marina said, sharing her thoughts.
The woman hopes that Boyko will listen to the residents of the region and will "set Donbas free."
"We simply cannot be with them [Ukrainian politicians]. I have many friends who have lost their husbands, sons. And how can we forgive them? There is no way! But I want to vote. Yes, my friends do not understand me, they say it is stupid to go to the enemy and vote. But I want to do this, I hope that my vote will make a difference," Marina explained.
Anna, an 85-year-old woman, also wants to cast her vote for Boyko. She lives in the village of Pikuzy, which is located near the contact line and is regularly under fire. Her husband and son were killed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The upcoming elections give her little hope that it will be possible to stop the war in Donbas with the change of power in Kiev.
"I went and registered for the voting. I will go to vote for Boyko because he is the only one who promises to talk to Donbas. Maybe this shelling will stop. There is no hope now. What if at least something will change or at least for a bit. I cannot stand it anymore. Half of the houses have no roofs. Everything was smashed. I do not want to die in the war," Anna said.
NO HOPE FOR PEACE AFTER ELECTION
DPR People's Council's member Oleg Onopko believes that the election of a new president will not bring peace to Donbas.
"The issue of which candidate is the most acceptable is no longer in question for me, as for many other residents of Donbas. Since 2014, there have been no politicians, who have even tried to take into account the interests of our region," Onopko told Sputnik.
In his opinion, none of the presidential candidates in Ukraine have any proposals for a peaceful settlement of the conflict, and "some theses are in direct conflict with the Minsk agreements."
"The rhetoric of enmity and hatred against the people of Donbas is typical for the public speeches of the election campaign's 'favorites', the myths about 'Russian aggression' and 'hybrid war' are used. Under these conditions, we can only hope that people who are ready for dialogue and cooperation will come to power in Ukraine someday," Onopko stressed.
According to the DPR parliament's member Vladislav Rusanov, there is practically no chance that a representative of the "peace party" will come to power in Ukraine. He is confident that the upcoming elections only create an "illusion of democracy and freedom of speech" in the country.
"Why, for what reason does the government adopt and approve decrees that restrict the rights of its own taxpayers? The answer is obvious to me � only to save the seat of the Ukrainian president for Poroshenko. All administrative resources are now concentrated in his hands, and there is no doubt that they will be thrown into the battle in order to bring Poroshenko to the second term," Rusanov added.
A member of the republic's People's Council, Vladislav Berdichevsky, believes that "there is no real adequate political force that is capable of curbing the Nazis and militarized far-right groups" in Kiev now.
According to Berdichevsky, the presence of large electoral groups in Ukraine that are completely brainwashed by anti-Russian propaganda, calls into question the possibility of any peace talks in the foreseeable future, since many politicians are guided by them. He stressed that, unfortunately, there is no hope for peace in Donbas after the election.
