2023-09-11 02:18:31
Moscow claimed Sunday evening the victory of Vladimir Putin’s party in the elections organized in the territories annexed to Ukraine, with more than 70% of the votes, ballots considered “illegal” by Kiev and its allies.
Russia’s Central Election Commission says the Russian president’s United Russia party came out on top in these regional elections in the four territories annexed to Ukraine.
The President of the Electoral Commission, Ella Pamfilova, welcomed the elections which took place dynamically, with few violations.
With these elections spread over three days, from Friday to Sunday, Moscow is trying to legitimize its annexations in Ukraine by voting in the occupied territories in the east and south.
Despite strong condemnations from the West, Russia proclaimed in September 2022 the annexation of four Ukrainian territories that it only partially controls – Zaporizhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Lugansk – following referendums not recognized by the international community.
The fighting is still raging there and the Ukrainian army has launched a counter-offensive. In the four annexed Ukrainian regions, the occupation authorities have bent over backwards to present some semblance of normalcy, despite the ongoing fighting.
In the Donetsk region, voters cast ballots adorned with the Russian double-headed eagle, while in the Kherson region, Governor Vladimir Saldo declared a non-working Friday so that each citizen could express their position.
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An armed guard stands at the entrance to an election office in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, September 10, 2023.
Photo : AP
Opponents in prison or in exile
The Russians also voted on Sunday in these regional elections without suspense, in a context of muzzled opposition, where critical voices of the Ukrainian conflict are unceremoniously repressed.
For more than a year and a half, thousands of Russians have in fact been sentenced, sometimes to heavy sentences, for protesting against the offensive in Ukraine. And no real opposition outside the system is represented: the opponents are either in prison or in exile.
The outcome of these elections organized to appoint governors, regional deputies and municipal elected officials should therefore not cause any surprises.
The vote comes a few months before the presidential election scheduled for early 2024, which could consolidate Vladimir Putin in power until 2030.
In several Russian regions, where the influx of voters is traditionally the largest on Sunday, the vote is also colored by the conflict.
Above all, we want to live in peace, us and our children, said Nina Antonova, 40-year-old occupational protection specialist. Everyone is only concerned about one problem: war. We have no other problems, assures Anatoli, an 84-year-old retiree.
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Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Archive photo)
Photo : Archyde.com
Re-election of the outgoing mayor in Moscow
In Moscow, outgoing mayor Sergei Sobyanin, a Vladimir Putin loyalist in office since 2010, omnipresent on television in recent days to inaugurate new regional train lines or renovated hospitals, was re-elected without difficulty.
The winner is unequivocally already known, declared Sunday evening an official of the central electoral commission, Nikolai Bulaïev, congratulating the councilor on such a convincing victory.
Several hundred kilometers southwest of Moscow, in the border regions of Ukraine, regularly targets of attacks from kyiv, the security conditions for the organization of the vote are precarious.
The Chairman of the Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, has already announced that voting in the town of Chebekino, Belgorod region, has been postponed due to a high alert level.
The only notable political event: in southern Siberia, the Communist Party candidate, Valentin Konovalov, 35, is trying to be re-elected in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Khakassia. He is far ahead of his opponents, according to the Russian news agency TASS.
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