THE referendum in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions, seeking independence from the central government was massively supported yesterday.
THE referendum in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions, seeking independence from the central government was massively supported yesterday. Local self-defence forces provided security.
‘Turnout at the referendum is exceptionally high,’ the head of the Central Election Commission of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Roman Lyagin reported.
‘The turnout is not just high, it’s off the charts,’ Lyagin said. ‘People are queuing up at polling stations, and election commissions are working at full capacity.’
In Lugansk, 22 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots two hours after the polls opened, a leader of the city’s self-defence forces, Vasily Nikitin reported.
The city of Mariupol is recovering from Friday’s deadly clashes, when thousands took to the streets, stopping tanks with their bodies, and forced the Kiev security forces back, at the cost of 20 dead and large numbers wounded.
There were only eight polling stations open, and thousands queued outside them all day for their chance to vote. Almost simultaneously with the opening of polling stations, sounds of shooting and artillery fire were heard on the outskirts of Slavyansk.
Slavyansk already witnessed mortar shelling of its outskirts by Ukrainian forces on the eve of the referendum. In the embattled city the stations closed at 15:00 GMT for security reasons.
Voting in four towns across Lugansk region has been disrupted, as military vehicles blocked passage to polling stations, representatives of the referendum coordination council reported.
‘In four districts – Belokurakinsky, Svatovsky, Troitsky and Melovsky – APCs of the Ukrainian National Guard do not let residents pass to the referendum polling stations,’ the reporter said.
Some 1,471 polling stations in Lugansk region and around 1,500 in Donetsk region opened their doors for voters at 8:00am local time (5:00 GMT) and will close at 22:00 (19:00 GMT). Security has been tightened around them.
Citizens of the two southeastern regions of Ukraine are being asked if they ‘support the act of state self-rule’ of Donetsk People’s Republic or Lugansk People’s Republic. The election commission officials explained that the people are not choosing between staying within Ukraine and joining Russia, as widely reported, but instead are asked to support regions’ right to political self-determination.
