Sham referendum: even dead people are "voting" in Luhansk Oblast
ROMAN PETRENKO – SATURDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER 2022, 11:14
The Russian occupying authorities in Alchevsk are counting referendum "votes" cast by people who are in captivity or have died, said Serhii Haidai, the head of the Oblast Military Administration.
Source: Haidai on Telegram
Quote from Haidai: "There are certainly plenty of voters. A resident of Alchevsk at the front, or in captivity, or already dead, will also vote somehow. Perhaps their vote will be taken into account telepathically.
In order to increase the turnout, employees of the "election commissions", accompanied by armed servicemen of the Russian Federation, are forcing residents to vote directly in their places of residence.
They stop people on the streets. If anyone objects that they don’t have their passport on them, they answer succinctly, ‘Well, you don't need one; we know who you are anyway.’
They’re calling people on the phone. Employees who refuse to come to the ‘election precinct’ are being threatened with dismissal. The occupying authorities even find people who’ve left for Russia. They invite them to vote there as well."
Background:
- The Kremlin-appointed authorities in occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson oblasts and the city of Melitopol (Zaporizhzhia Oblast) announced on 23 September that they had started referendums on joining Russia.
- The President's Office has assured Russia and its accomplices in the occupied territories of Ukraine that sham referendums will not enable the occupiers to legalise the seizure of Ukrainian lands.
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