DONETSK, April 23 (RIA Novosti) – Local authorities in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk have refused to help pro-federalization supporters hold a referendum on the region’s autonomy scheduled for May 11, a local official told journalists Wednesday.
“We explained to them that we can only act within the legal framework,” said Maxim Rovinsky, head of the public affairs department of the Donetsk City Council.
“That is why those people who are preparing the referendum walked away and are working on it on their own,” Rovinsky said at a press conference.
Activists responsible for the preparations for the upcoming referendum asked local authorities for assistance but were refused, as there is no law in place for such a vote, Rovinsky said. He added that Donetsk authorities, lacking an up-to-date list of voters, could not provide the protesters with names of registered voters.
Donetsk Mayor Alexander Lukyanchenko said that in order to hold a large-scale referendum the city needs 426 local and nine district election committees.
The mayor said it would have been more economically reasonable to postpone the referendum until the presidential elections in Ukraine, which are scheduled for May 25. By that time the legal basis for the referendum would be ready, he said.
Eastern regions of Ukraine have been swept by rallies since last month. Federalization supporters in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Gorlovka, Slaviansk and Kramatorsk have refused to recognize the legitimacy of the current Ukrainian government and are urging interim authorities to hold referendums similar to the one held in Crimea last month, which led to the republic's reunification with Russia.
