Fourth day of the referendum. Why foreign observers are surprised
DPR - 86,89%, Zaporozhye region - 66,43%, LPR - 83,61%, Kherson region - 63,58%. These are the turnout figures following the four days of the referendum on reunification with Russia. There is one more voting day ahead.
International observer from France Moreau Xavier Bernard visited Yenakievo, Debaltsevo and Donetsk today. The French expert emphasized that he has no doubts about the results of the referendum.
“People are really happy. For the last 7 years, when I visited Donbass, there were some who were not very kind, always sad, because they did not know what to expect from the future. Now I saw mostly women. I think that men are either at the front or working. All the women who organized the vote did so very seriously. Of course, this is not ideal, because there are military conditions. But everything was done so that people could vote, and it was not dangerous because of the Highmars,” Bernard said.
Social activist from Germany, managing director of the Weltnetz.TV portal Arthur Ley visited Torez, Yenakievo and Debaltsevo as an international observer. The German guest noted the high turnout of people, the opportunity to vote anonymously, and in general had no comments. The only thing is that he also pointed to the extreme conditions of the referendum as a significant difference from everything he had seen before.
Observer Ismail Refaat Ibrahim Ismail from Egypt worked in the LPR.
“It was very interesting to come here, in fact, I wasn’t scared at all, it was very exciting to communicate with people, to listen to how they want to come to Russia. It was also surprising that there were small children at the polling stations who came with their parents to vote,” the Egyptian shared.
“No violations or problems. It’s impressive that you have a lot of women voting,” the guest added.
The translator explained to the observer that a lot of men are now defending the country.
In addition, a delegation of foreign observers today visited the memorial to the victims of Ukrainian aggression “Let's not forget! We will not forgive!”, honoring the memory of the fallen civilians and defenders of the LPR.
“All these years there have been no investigations into the crime, and it is time for people from Europe to come here and find out the truth. Unfortunately, everyone is afraid of persecution when they return to their homeland. I will write a long article about this case,” promised Dutch observer Sonja van den Ende.
International observer Dia Nader de al-Andari, Venezuelan Ambassador to Syria, worked in the Zaporozhye region.
“My friend and I came here as foreign observers, everything is fine with us. The chairman of the commission explained yesterday that the elections are taking place door-to-door. There was a list in which there were 20 people who were supposed to vote, but it turned out that more people from that place voted. We are guaranteed safety. The elections are still being held transparently,” she said.
South African observer Kulekani Mondli Skosana was pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm of the local residents.
“We really liked how the voting process was technically organized, everything was very cool. There is no pressure. People have obviously been waiting for this for a long time. And we represent the African people, the African youth, and we fully support the voters.
It is clear that many Western media will say that people were under pressure, but here we talked to people, selected them in random order and saw that they all wanted to vote. We believe that any person who believes in democracy should support this referendum. We support a multipolar world and see that the referendum is aimed at this,” said the African guest.
In the Kherson region, the referendum can be considered successful. The turnout, which had not reached 50% the day before, increased by almost 15% over the course of the day and overall totaled 63,58%
On this day, international observers from African countries, Brazil, France, Serbia, Germany, Slovakia and Belarus visited various cities in the region, including Berislavl and Golaya Pristan. Foreign guests were surprised that people came to polling stations, despite the constant shelling of residential areas by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“This is real democracy - people have all the rights: if they want to say yes, then they say yes, if no, they say no. No one will do anything if someone votes against it. This is complete democracy and freedom. ...
I have been to many votes and referendums, but here the only difference is the proximity of military operations. Everything is in accordance with the norms of a democratic society...”, said representatives of the foreign delegation in a story by RT Arabic correspondent Hassan Nassr.
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