“By the way, we have, objectively, all the prerequisites for the undisturbed holding of elections in amalgamated hromadas, as well as for the preparation for the official launch of the presidential elections,” said President Petro Poroshenko at the Forum of Local Self-Government.

The President reminded that the day before yesterday he introduced to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine an urgent draft law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Article 28 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Framework of Martial Law” to ensure the holding of local elections scheduled for Sunday, 23 December 2018”.

The President said that this law envisages an exception that would allow to hold elections in a number of newly formed AHs. But at the same time, he noted that holding of these elections is possible in case of thorough elaboration of this issue with the Central Election Commission, legal services, international partners of Ukraine.

“The key point is that the elections should be free and invoke people’s trust,” the President said. The Head of State noted that, according to the latest data, 874 AHs have already been formed all over the country, 665 of them have received an enlarged structure of the revenue part and switched to direct interbudgetary relations with the state budget.