Elections in occupied territories
Kremlin party victory announced in sham elections
A woman casts her vote at a polling station in Donetsk. photo
© AP/dpa
In the occupied Ukrainian territories, the United Russia party is said to have won hands down. But the sham elections without independent observers are a farce, emphasizes Ukraine.
According to official figures, the Kremlin party United Russia has won with a large majority in the sham elections in the four Moscow-occupied regions of Ukraine.
“We are getting a lot of support, we are getting the majority everywhere, more than 2.7 million people in the four regions have their voice for unity Russia,” said the head of the party’s Central Executive Committee, Alexander Sidjakin, according to the Russian news agency Interfax. There were no independent election observers during the vote.
Regional and local elections took place in Russia from September 8th to 10th. The Kremlin also allowed the regional parliaments in the Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia, which were annexed by President Vladimir Putin in violation of international law, to be voted on, which will later determine the regional governors. Kiev called for the sham elections not to be recognized. The situation in the regions is characterized by massive human rights violations and restrictions on civil rights. According to reports, citizens were forced to vote.
United Russia claimed the best result in the eastern region of Donetsk. Voter turnout there was around 80 percent. “And 78 percent of them were for United Russia,” claimed separatist leader Denis Pushilin.