The Portuguese Communist Party disassociated itself this Sunday from the presence and statements of Manuel Pires da Rocha, municipal deputy of the party in Coimbra, as an observer in the Russian regional elections that were extended to the Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia. annexed by Moscow.
In statements to local mediaPires da Rocha declared having witnessed an electoral event that took place “in an atmosphere of great freedom.”
“We know little about what is happening here because the pattern of most mass information is to say bad things about Russia. We are not here to support anything other than the truth, Russia has not asked us for anything,” said the Coimbra deputy. . , who assured that he and other observers are free to say what they want “about what is happening.”
“Our vision is important so that there is contradiction in what we hear and so that people in the West can choose. Otherwise they will not be able to choose, they will only be able to accept what they are told,” he argued.
Questioned by TSF Regarding whether it was invited by Russia to be present in these elections, the PCP assured in a brief written note that “The presence of Pires da Rocha in Donbass has no relation to any decision of the PCP and his statements only hold him responsible.”
Russia’s central electoral commission said today that President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party won regional elections in the four territories annexed by Moscow in Ukraine by a comfortable majority.
The electoral commissions imposed by Moscow in Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson, in a vote aimed at politically legitimizing the annexation, indicated that five parties with representation in the Russian Parliament presented candidates for the local assemblies, highlighting Putin’s party according to the elections. preliminaries. results.
In Zaporizhia, the Kremlin party won 83.96% of the vote, with around 60% of the votes counted. In Kherson, United Russia came close to 87% of the vote, while in Donetsk it led with 79.56%.
In Luhansk, the only region in eastern Ukraine that Russia almost completely controls, United Russia won 74.72%, with almost 54% of the votes counted.
The Central Electoral Commission assured that the participation rate in the four annexed provinces was higher than in other Russian territories, reaching more than 74% of registered voters.
In Russia, direct elections are being held this Sunday for governors of 21 provinces, of which 20 elect regional deputies and 17 appoint municipal deputies.
The United States and Ukraine warned that the results of these “elections” are prefabricated and, like most Western countries and allies (Canada and Japan), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe , assured that they will not recognize these “illegal” elections.
Local and regional elections ended in Russia at 6:00 p.m. (Lisbon time) after three days of voting, but in the annexed regions and where early voting began a week ago, polling stations closed five hours earlier “for security reasons.” “.
The legislative assemblies elected in the annexed regions – where the population already has a Russian passport – will have 45 days to elect governors, although the current interim leaders deserve the support of the Russian president: Denis Pushilin in Donetsk, Leonid Pasechnik in Lugansk, Yevgeni Balitski and Zaporijia and Vladimir Saldo in Kherson.
Source: TSF
