The majority of Ukrainians (60%) believe that in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (ORDLO) that are not controlled by the Ukrainian government, the withdrawal of Russian military, the disarming of militants and the establishment of Ukraine’s control over its border with the Russian Federation should be carried out first, and only then the elections may be carried out, according to the results of a study conducted by the sociological service of the Razumkov Center from July 29 to August 4.
Only 13% believe that the elections should be held first in these territories, and only after that – the withdrawal of Russian military, the disarming of militants and the establishment of Ukraine’s control over the border.
The opinion that demilitarization and restoration of Ukraine’s control over the border should precede the elections in ORDLO is held by the absolute majority of the respondents in the western (83%), central (64%) and southern (56%) regions of Ukraine, and the relative majority in the eastern region (35% with 26% of those who hold the opposite point of view).
The same opinion is shared by the absolute majority of the Ukrainian-speaking respondents (69% versus 11%) and the relative majority of the Russian-speaking ones (45% versus 16%).
The absolute majority of voters of the European Solidarity party (80.5%), the Batkivschyna party (71.5%), and the Servant of the People party (62%) are in favor of demilitarizing and restoring Ukraine’s control over ORDLO before the elections. Among the electorate of the Opposition Platform – For Life party, 32% are in favor of holding elections first, then withdrawing Russian military from these territories, disarming militants and establishing Ukraine’s control over the border, and the opposite point of view is supported by only 21% of the voters of this party, although there are more voters among them who have not decided on this issue (41%).
The study was conducted by means of face-to-face interviews at the place of residence of 2,019 respondents aged 18 and over in all government-controlled regions of Ukraine based on a sample representing the adult population in terms of main socio-demographic indicators. The theoretical sampling error, excluding the design effect, does not exceed 2.3% with a probability of 0.95.
