Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) said Monday that the ruling party won the majority of votes in elections held last week in the occupied regions of Ukraine.
The provisional results were released as Russian authorities seek to strengthen control over territories that Moscow illegally annexed a year ago and still does not fully control.
Voting for the Russian-installed legislatures began last week and, according to the CCE, deputies from the ruling United Russia party came first in the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed in 2022 (Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia) and in Crimea . Peninsula, which the Kremlin annexed in 2014.
The vote in occupied areas of Ukraine was denounced by kyiv and the West as a farce and a violation of international law.
On Friday, Ukrainian authorities called on the international community not to recognize the voting results, deemed “false” by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
Voting in illegally annexed Ukrainian regions coincided with national elections for local legislatures and governors in 16 Russian regions.
There were also multiple votes for municipal councils across the country and elections for some vacant seats in the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.
In Moscow, the United Russia party received the largest number of votes, more than 76%, re-electing Sergei Sobyanin as speaker of the House.
CCE Russian director Ella Pamfilova said the participation rate was 43.5%, the highest since 2017, a percentage that includes Russia and the occupied regions of Ukraine.
In an illegally annexed Ukrainian region, Russian state media reported the turnout rate was even higher.
Marina Zakharova, chairwoman of the Russian-installed Kherson electoral commission, said Sunday that 65.36% of the region’s residents voted in the election.
The Kherson region is not completely under Russian control, and local residents and Ukrainian activists have reported that Russian officials are making house calls accompanied by armed soldiers in both provinces, detaining those who refuse to vote and pressuring them to write “explanatory statements.” “that can be used. as a basis for criminal proceedings.
The Ukrainian military suggested in a statement on Sunday that Moscow could use the votes to identify men who could be recruited into the Russian military.
On Sunday, Russian election officials reported attempts to sabotage voting in occupied regions, where forces loyal to Kiev had previously shot down pro-Moscow officials, blown up bridges and helped the Ukrainian military by identifying “key targets.”
Source: TSF
