Elections cancelled in Shebekino near border with Ukraine: locals flee due to attacks

The election committee of Belgorod Oblast in Russia has cancelled the elections to the Council of the Members of Parliament of the Shebekino district due to mass fleeing of local residents.

Source: Radio Liberty, 7x7 – Gorizontalnaya Rossiya (Horizontal Russia), which reports on events in the Russian regions

Details: Igor Lazarev, the head of the election committee of Belgorod Oblast, remarked that almost all candidates and the members of 40 election committees had fled the Shebekino district of Russia so it will be impossible to hold the elections in September 2023.

The new election date will be announced after "the situation in the municipality is stabilised".

A week ago the elections to the council of the village of Zhuravlyovske in the Belgorod district were cancelled for the same reason.

The Russian law provides for the cancellation of elections only in case of high alert, emergency, or martial law.

According to the decree by the President, the "medium response level" has been implemented in Belgorod Oblast, but this regime is not mentioned in the election legislation. Despite this, the Central Election Committee of Russia made a decision to cancel the elections in Shebekino.

Before the war the population in Shebekino was almost 40,000 people.

In the second year of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the attacks on border regions have become more frequent. In May alone the authorities of Belgorod Oblast reported about 130 attacks, drone attacks and instances of air defence system activation, as reported by the Agenstvo media outlet. Since the end of May, the attacks have been occurring on a daily basis. Radio Liberty estimates that since the beginning of spring, 30 people have died and more than 150 people have been injured in Belgorod Oblast in Russia.

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