A widely condemned regional and municipal elections including in four eastern regions annexed from Ukraine has been wrapped up by Russia, delivering strong support for President Vladimir Putin.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the seven-day election, which ended on Sunday, was marred by accusations of vote-rigging and Ukraine’s attempt to retake its former regions.
The polls were described as a gross violation of international law by the Council of Europe, while Kyiv and its allies claimed they were an illegal attempt to strengthen Moscow’s control over regions in the south and east of Ukraine.
Putin’s United Russia party received more than 70% of the vote in each of the war-torn areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson in Ukraine, according to data released by Moscow and proxy officials, state-run news agencies claimed.
Detailed voting figures were not immediately released.
All but a handful of Russia’s allies recognise the regions as part of Ukraine.
Read Also: Putin Will Not Be Arrested At Brazil G20 Meeting – Lula
The results mean that Moscow’s handpicked governors in the territories, a mixture of veteran separatist bosses and small-time local pro-Russian politicians, win full terms in office.
None of the four regions are fully controlled by the Russian army.
Ukraine, which in June began a gruelling counteroffensive to liberate the lands, has been slowly regaining territory in the Zaporizhia region and has also claimed some advances in Donetsk around the shattered city of Bakhmut.
Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and leader of United Russia, thanked all voters who turned up to cast their ballots in the annexed regions.
Across Russia, United Russia won every provincial governor’s race it contested. In the regions voting, however, electoral competition was limited as strong candidates, including some from Russia’s main opposition Communist Party, were blocked from running by authorities.
All significant, legal political forces in Russia, including the patchwork of opposition parties that provide a semblance of competition at the polls, are broadly loyal to Putin and his 18-month-old war in Ukraine.
Stanislav Andreychuk, co-chair of Golos, a voter rights group designated a “foreign agent” by the Russian government, said instances of vote rigging in many parts of Russia showed that “these are not real elections”.
Andreychuk said his organisation had received reports of opposition candidates being detained, having their cars vandalised and, in one case, military draft papers being served to election observers.