Russia’s Central Elections Fee claimed on Sunday that the United Russia social gathering, which staunchly backs President , was main native ballots in 4 Ukrainian areas occupied by Russian forces.
The Kremlin claimed to have annexed the jap and southern territories late final yr regardless of not having full army management over them, and the so-called elections have been dismissed by Ukraine and its allies as a sham.
Information posted on the Fee’s web site purported to indicate that the citizens within the war-battered territories — the place Ukraine has opened information fronts — had backed United Russia after an preliminary rely.
The polls additionally being held throughout Russia come forward of presidential elections deliberate for subsequent yr anticipated to extend Putin’s rule till least 2030.
His opponents are in exile or jail and Moscow has criminalised criticism of its battle in Ukraine and detained 1000’s for talking out.
Authorities arrange cell polling cubicles days forward of the vote in annexed Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia, the place Moscow mentioned a polling station was attacked by a Ukrainian drone.
Voting was additionally going down in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Ukrainian safety companies mentioned that they had compiled an inventory of “collaborators” serving to to organise the voting and vowed retribution.
– ‘Stay in peace’ –
In Rostov-on-Don, a southwest metropolis near Ukraine’s border that was attacked by drones this week, two voters instructed AFP the battle was their fundamental fear.
“We simply need to dwell in peace with our kids,” mentioned 40-year-old Nina Antonova.
“Everyone seems to be frightened about this one drawback — the struggle. We don’t have another issues,” mentioned 84-year-old Anatoli, a pensioner who declined to offer his final identify.
In Moscow, which was internet hosting a mayoral vote, there have been only a few marketing campaign posters.
Incumbant Sergei Sobyanin — a Siberian-born Kremlin loyalist in put up since 2010 — gained a “convincing” reelection, a senior election official mentioned.
In his 13 years on the helm of Europe’s largest metropolis, Sobyanin has presided over quite a few mega-projects which have reworked Moscow’s skyline.
In 2013, he was nearly defeated by anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny.
Navalny, who dismissed the vote from behind bars, was jailed in 2020 on previous fraud expenses his allies say have been a pretext to finish his political work.
Sobyanin beat out the grandson of a veteran Communist politician and a little-known candidate from a brand new social gathering dubbed “New Individuals”.
Moscow residents forward of the vote had praised Sobyanin for modernising town.
“Simply yesterday, two metro stations opened,” 21-year-old scholar Rukhin Aliyev instructed AFP.
“Moscow is blossoming in entrance of our eyes.”
Musician Kirill Lobanov mentioned Sobyanin had completed “very nicely” as mayor, significantly “within the final yr” marked by the battle.
Sobyanin has in current months downplayed growing Ukrainian drone assaults on Moscow which have hit the Kremlin and crashed into the capital’s iconic monetary district.
– ‘Excessive alert’ –
In areas bordering Ukraine which have seen frequent assaults by Kyiv this summer season, voting was going forward with further safety precautions.
Electoral fee chief Ella Pamfilova mentioned voting had been postponed in Shebekino, a district of the Belgorod area that has been hit by shelling, “as a consequence of a regime of excessive alert”.
Observers say one of many few aggressive races in Russia’s 11 time zones has emerged in Siberia’s distant Khakassia, the place governor Valentin Konovalov is looking for re-election.
The 35-year-old Communist defeated a Kremlin-backed candidate in 2018 after a wave of uncommon protests within the sparsely populated mountainous area.
On this yr’s marketing campaign, he initially confronted Moscow-backed candidate Sergei Sokol, who portrayed himself as a Kremlin-decorated “hero” who fought in Ukraine.
Sokol dropped out on the final minute, citing well being causes. Konovalov is one in every of few regional leaders not backed by the Kremlin who stays in workplace.
