Russia fails “elections” in occupied territories of Kherson region – expert

The Russian invaders could not present any documented evidence of the so-called "elections" in the occupied territories of the Kherson region.

The sham elections were a complete failure, says the head of the Kherson regional organization of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, Dementii Bilyi, quoted by Rubryka.

"The occupiers could not even show a photo of the election process that corresponded to the reported 'voting' figures, although there was enough propaganda slag," said Bilyi.

He said that six days of the so-called initial "voting" and three days of the "single voting day" didn't produce any photos. Officially, the Russian occupiers announced that 53.19% of the "voters" took part in the initial "voting," and 65.36% of the "voters" visited "polling stations."

Bilyi says that if you look at the photos of the lists of "voters" during the "single day of voting," you can see, at best, two or three signatures on a letter from the list of voters. Instead of two-thirds of the letter filled with "voters" signatures, we see only two or three single signatures in the photographs, which means failure and deception.

"Where are those 65% of those who voted? Where are their signatures?" he asks.

He also reported that the propaganda videos showed "lines" to the "polling stations." According to Bilyi, this is an old "trick of swindlers." Instead of the usual 450 polling stations on the left bank, which worked in regular Ukrainian elections, the Russian occupiers opened only 51 polling stations for so-called "voting."

"Only unhappy people, dependent on the occupiers, stood in line," he said. "Even more so, those videos showed a variety of showmanship to divert attention from empty ballot boxes, a small number of people, and clean lists of voters, without signatures."

What we know about pseudo-elections in the occupied territories of Ukraine

Russia held national elections on Sunday, September 10, including by-elections of the Russian parliament members and elections of governors and legislative bodies. However, the Kremlin announced it intends to hold a pseudo-vote in the occupied Ukrainian territories.

At the end of May, Russia made amendments to the law, which allows elections to be held in the occupied territories. According to Ukraine's security spokesman Dekhtiarenko, the so-called "polling station" in the occupied city of Kamianka-Dniprovska and Berdiansk in the Zaporizhzhia region burned down, after which the number of people who wanted to vote decreased.

In response, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that it initiated the suspicion of the Chair of the Central Election Commission of Russia, Ella Pamfilova, who is organizing pseudo-elections in the occupied Ukrainian areas. Law enforcement officers also exposed 15 collaborators who are preparing new "elections" in the Luhansk region.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said that the illegal elections held by Russia in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine will not have any legal consequences and will not lead to a change in the status of the Ukrainian territories captured by the Russian army. The ministry called on international partners to condemn Russia's worthless and arbitrary actions and not to recognize the legitimacy of any "administration" that will be created after illegal elections, as well as any decisions that will be made by them.

The European Union strongly condemned illegitimate "elections" in Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and occupied parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions of Ukraine.