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Igor Plotnitsky wins self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic head elections — CEC

The LPR incumbent leader scores 63.04% of the vote
Igor Plotnitsky TASS
Igor Plotnitsky
© TASS

LUHANSK, November 3. /TASS/. Igor Plotnitsky has won elections of the head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) in the south-east of Ukraine, scoring 63.08% of the vote, head of the LPR Central Election Commission (CEC) Sergey Koziyakov said on Monday after counting all the ballots, including from polling stations in Russia.

Head of the Federation of Trade Unions Oleg Akimov is second with 15.12% of the vote, followed by businessman Viktor Penner who was supported by 10.08% of the voters and republic’s Health Minister Larisa Airapetyan who got 7.28% of the vote.

According to the Central Election Commission, the turnout at LPR head and parliament elections was 68.70%. The CEC recognizes the elections as valid.

Igor Plotnitsky's background

Igor Venediktovich Plotnitsky was born June 24, 1964, in the town of Kelmentsi, Ukraine’s southwestern Chernovtsi region. He graduated from the Supreme Artillery Engineering Academy in the Russian city of Penza in 1987.

Plotnitsky has a master’s degree in state administration from the Vladimir Dahl East-Ukrainian National University in Luhansk.

His service in the Soviet Armed Forces lasted from 1982 through 1991. He retired from the army in the rank of Major. Also in 1991, he settled in Luhansk.

From 1992 through 2004 Plotnitsky held a number of positions in state organizations and commercial companies, mostly managerial ones including those of a chief commercial officer and Director-General.

In 2004, he took up at job at the Luhansk regional inspection for the protection of consumer rights where he worked through to 2012.

His engagement in politics began after the outbreak of the unrest in Kiev in December 2013. When the radical forces of Euromaidan seized power in a coup d’etat in February 2014 Igor Plotnitsky rose to prominence as the leader of resistance in Luhansk.

In April, he became the first commander of the Zarya (Dawn) popular liberation battalion and in May 2014 he took the position of Defense Minister of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic.

August 20, the Supreme Soviet of the LPR elected him to the post of Prime Minister instead of Valery Bolotov who had resigned.