The Kremlin party United Russia has won mock elections in the four Russian-annexed regions in eastern Ukraine. This is reported by the Russian election commission. However, there are considerable doubts as to whether the vote was fair.
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. The Russian election commission announced in the evening that the party loyal to Russia received more than 70 percent of the votes in every region.
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.
No election observers, reports of coercion
There were no independent election observers during the vote. The Ukrainian government in 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.
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.