Donbass votes in Stakhanov style – Newspaper Kommersant No. 177 (7378) of 09/26/2022

In the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), as well as in the Russian-controlled military units of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions of Ukraine, the third day of voting on joining Russia ended on Sunday. All territories report high activity of referendum participants, although so far voting takes place mainly in exit polling stations and adjacent territories, and stationary polling stations will open only on September 27. According to observers and the media, those wishing to vote are lining up. In the DPR, LPR and Zaporizhia region, according to official data, the turnout has already exceeded 50%, which allows us to consider the referendums held there.

According to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the DPR, the turnout for the referendum was already 55.05% in the first two days of voting, and by 20:00 on Sunday it had exceeded 77%. The chairman of the CEC of the LPR, Elena Kravchenko, also announced that by the evening of September 25, more than 76% of voters had taken part in the plebiscite. In the Zaporizhzhya region, 51.55% voted by this moment, and in the Kherson region – 48.91%. According to the referendum laws adopted earlier in the DPR and LPR, they are recognized as having taken place with a turnout of more than 50%, and a decision on the issue of accession is considered accepted if it is also supported by more than half of the voters on the list.

Recall that the residents of the DPR and LPR will have to answer the question of whether they support the entry of these republics into Russia as a constituent entity of the Russian Federation. And the people of Kherson and the Cossacks were also asked to approve the secession of the regions from Ukraine. According to Alexander Malkevich, First Deputy Chairman of the Coordinating Council of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation for Public Control over Voting, more than 100 international observers from 40 countries, including France, Syria, Venezuela, Germany, Uruguay, the Czech Republic and Cameroon, monitor the voting process at referendums.

During the first four days, mostly mobile voting is held, and stationary polling stations will open only on September 27 – the organizers explained this decision for security reasons. In particular, it became known that on Sunday Ukrainian troops launched a missile attack on a hotel in the center of Kherson, killing two people (including ex-deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksiy Zhuravko). Also, an explosion of an improvised device occurred in the center of Berdyansk in the Zaporozhye region, but there were no casualties.

The referendum is being held as usual, and reports of incidents only motivate people more, political scientist Alexander Asafov, who is part of the observer mission, told Kommersant. According to him, although only home-based voting is taking place so far, voter turnout is already high, and many are looking forward to the opening of polling stations. When in Melitopol representatives of the public organization “We are together with Russia” voted in front of the monument to intelligence officer Pavel Sudoplatov, people passing by joined the vote, Mr. Asafov said. At the same time, some foreigners were very surprised that people do not hide their choice, but, on the contrary, openly demonstrate it, the political scientist noted. According to him, the international observer Marco Pata even clarified several times whether it was really possible to do this. But since this is the initiative of the participant himself and at the same time the secrecy of the vote is observed, then there is no violation here, Alexander Asafov is sure.

State Duma deputy from United Russia Leonid Ogul, who worked as part of a pool of international observers in the Artemovsky and Kremensky districts of the LPR, told Kommersant that he managed to talk to medical workers at the polling station in the hospital and with people at the polling stations. “They say that the referendum is a real holiday for them. Everyone is smiling and congratulating each other on this truly historic event,” the deputy shared.

Voting for residents of all four territories is also organized in Russia. At the DPR embassy in Moscow, where one of the polling stations was opened, on Sunday, September 25, queues of those wishing to vote were recorded. Although in most regions, according to Kommersant correspondents, the will was expressed calmly.

So, by noon on September 25, all 100 internally displaced persons from the LPR and DPR living in a temporary accommodation center (TAP) in the Vega social and health center (Chuvashia) had already voted in the referendum, and almost all, in their own words,— for reunification with Russia, a member of the DPR election committee told Kommersant on condition of anonymity. In other TAPs, according to Kommersant’s interlocutor, the same picture is observed.

“People go, people vote, apply. They have a desire to vote, and referendum commissions and territorial commissions give them every opportunity to do so,” Kommersant was told at the election committee of the Orenburg region. By 14:00 local time, the polling stations there were closed, but the mobile groups of foreign referendum commissions “continued their work in municipalities,” the election commission specified. The referendum hotline received more than 50 calls.

The CEC of Tatarstan told Kommersant that eight polling stations where voting takes place in referendums continued to work. “In order to provide maximum assistance to residents of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, located on the territory of Russia, the Central Election Commission of Tatarstan operates a joint call-center of foreign election commissions for holding referendums, mainly requests of a general informational nature are received,” the press said. – service of the electoral commission.

Anastasia Kornya, Maria Makutina, corset “Kommersant”