UPDATE - DPR Elections Being Held In Compliance With EU Democratic Standards - Observer From Greece

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published November 11, 2018 | 05:33 PM

DONETSK/LUHANSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th November, 2018) Elections of the leader and members of parliament of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) do not breach the Minsk peace agreements and are being held in compliance with European standards, Kostas Isihos, former Greek deputy defense minister, who acts as an international observer at the elections, told reporters on Sunday.

The leaders' and parliamentary elections in the DPR and neighboring Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) started earlier on Sunday, as the polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time (05:00 GMT).

"Elections in the DPR do not contradict the Minsk [peace] process. The [election] process is in compliance with the democratic standards applied in the European countries," Isihos told reporters.

Observers from France have not registered any violations either.

"Everything is normal here, this is true democracy," Quintin Vercruysse, an observer from France, told Sputnik.

Belgian politician, member of a Flemish right-wing party Vlaams Belang, Frank Kreyelman, who is an observer at the LPR elections, praised the election process at a press conference, specifying that he had registered no violations.

"The elections that I have seen there are democratic in general, and are being held in a transparent manner ... The elections are being held the way they should be," Kreyelman told reporters.

Acting DPR head Denis Pushilin, as well as acting LPR leader Leonid Pasechnik are the front-runners in their republics' elections.

The two parties competing for seats in the DPR parliament are Pushilin's Donetsk Republic and the Free Donbas party. Seats in the LRP parliament will be distributed between Pasechnik's Peace for Luhansk Region and the party of Luhansk Economic Union.

The preliminary results of the DPR elections will be announced on Monday midnight local time.

Kiev has already said that it would not recognize the results of the voting, while the Kremlin pointed out that the elections would not violate the Minsk agreements.