The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic will not participate in Ukraine’s upcoming presidential election on May 25, DPR Co-Chairman Denis Pushilin said Monday, RIA Novosti reports.
“The election will not take place here,” Pushilin said.
The announcement followed a statement by Southeastern Army Press Secretary Vasiliy Nikitin that the neighboring Luhansk People’s Republic was also not planning to participate in the vote.
On Sunday, residents in Ukraine’s southeastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions went to the polls in a self-rule referendum, with ballots in Ukrainian and Russian asking whether voters supported the acts of state self-determination of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.
According to the final official tally, more than 70 percent of registered voters came to cast their ballots despite an intensified military operation by the Kiev government. Some 89.7 percent of the voters backed independence for Donetsk, while 10.19 percent voted against the measure.
