Motion for a resolution | Doc. 14188 | 14 October 2016

Illegal elections in the occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and in the city of Sebastopol

Signatories: Mr Oleksii GONCHARENKO, Ukraine, EC ; Lord Donald ANDERSON, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Volodymyr ARIEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Włodzimierz BERNACKI, Poland, EC ; Lord David BLENCATHRA, United Kingdom, EC ; Mr Nigel EVANS, United Kingdom, EC ; Ms Mariia IONOVA, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Serhii KIRAL, Ukraine, EC ; Ms Manana KOBAKHIDZE, Georgia, SOC ; Mr Zviad KVATCHANTIRADZE, Georgia, EC ; Mr Georgii LOGVYNSKYI, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Daniel MILEWSKI, Poland, EC ; Mr Arkadiusz MULARCZYK, Poland, EC ; Mr Zsolt NÉMETH, Hungary, EPP/CD ; Mr Aleksandar NIKOLOSKI, ''The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia'', EPP/CD ; Ms Liliana PALIHOVICI, Republic of Moldova, EPP/CD ; Ms Nadiia SAVCHENKO, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Adão SILVA, Portugal, EPP/CD ; Mr Serhiy SOBOLEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Ms Olena SOTNYK, Ukraine, ALDE ; Mr Egidijus VAREIKIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

On 18 September 2016, parliamentary elections were held in the Russian Federation. In violation of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262, Parliamentary Assembly Resolutions 1990 (2014), 2034 (2015), 2063 (2015), numerous decisions of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, the Russian parliamentary elections were organised by the occupational authorities in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine – the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sebastopol. In its Resolution 2132 (2016) on political consequences of the Russian aggression in Ukraine the Assembly condemns the illegal Duma elections held on 18 September in occupied Crimea and considers their results null and void.

The elections in the occupied Crimea are not in line with the Council of Europe principles for the following reason: the Duma consists of 450 members of which 225 were elected in accordance with the plurality voting system, with 4 members “elected” in the occupied Crimea. Their mandates are illegal and illegitimate. Another half of the parliament was elected on the proportional basis, hence it is not possible to clearly identify those deputies who were elected in Crimea, that is why the entire second half of the Russian Parliament is also to be considered illegal and illegitimate.

Proceeding from the international law principle “ex injuria jus non oritur” and taking into account the fact that ever since the creation of the Council of Europe, there has been no precedent of elections in occupied territories or in “frozen conflict” zones that has a direct impact on the legitimacy of the representative body of a member State, the Assembly finds it necessary to draw up a comprehensive report on the matter and propose recommendations in this regard.