Electoral
workers empty a ballot box to start counting ballots for the leadership
vote in the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk
People's Republic at a polling station in the eastern Ukrainian city of
Donetsk on November 2, 2014.
Sun Nov 2, 2014 8:58PM
Exit
polls in the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in
eastern Ukraine show that pro-Russians are poised to win the Sunday
elections.
According to the polls, Alexander Zakharchenko, the prime minister of
the Donetsk People's Republic, and his party are on course to win both
presidential and parliamentary elections. Zakharchenko, who was competing against two other candidates for the leadership of Donetsk region, won over 81 percent of the vote, the polls showed.
Donetsk Republic party also outdid three other rivals to claim most seats in the region’s local parliament, also known as the Popular Assembly.
Officials said more than 60 percent of the eligible voters turned out to vote both in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Ukraine has dismissed the vote and opened a criminal investigation into it.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko described the vote as "a farce, (conducted) under the barrels of tanks and machineguns,” adding, "I hope Russia will not recognize the so-called elections because they are a clear violation of the September 5 Minsk protocol, which was also signed by Russia's representative."
Poroshenko was referring to a truce agreement that was signed on September 5 by representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), and the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) in Minsk, Belarus, in an effort to halt the war in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions became the scene of deadly clashes between pro-Russia protesters and the Ukrainian army after the government in Kiev launched military operations in mid-April in a bid to crush protests.
Violence intensified in May after the two flashpoint regions of Donetsk and Lugansk held local referendums in which their residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation.
Russia says it recognizes the Sunday vote despite the warnings by the US, EU, and NATO that Kremlin’s decision runs counter to the terms of the September 5 ceasefire pact between Ukraine and pro-Russia fighters, to which Moscow is also a signatory.
Washington and its European allies accuse Russia of having a hand in the Ukraine crisis, an allegation strongly rejected by Moscow.
Tensions between Russia and the West heightened after Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea joined the Russian Federation following a referendum in March.
DB/NT/SS
