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Disinfo: Kyiv prevented Donbas residents from voting in the elections

Summary

The authorities in Kyiv is refusing the residents of Donbas the right to vote in Ukraine’s presidential elections. Ukraine did not give a vote to residents of the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine. In the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, not a single polling station was opened.

Disproof

A recurring narrative on the Ukraine elections. According to OPORA civic network, an election watchdog, voting stations were opened in both regions. In Donetsk oblasts, there are 12 electoral districts (for an estimated 1.4 million voters), while in Luhansk oblast, there are 6 districts (for an estimated 522,000 voters). They were all open according to schedule.

Voting stations were even opened in the zone of military operations in Donbas – where military personnel are voting. According to Ukraine’s General Staff, there are a total of 79 special voting stations in the area of the Joint Forces Operation: 14 in Luhansk oblast and 65 in Donetsk oblast. “Voting has been organised in accordance with the law and is occurring without excesses,” according to the military.

On top, the website of the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine advises that residents of the Donbas, who live in territory not controlled by Kyiv, can still participate in the elections. To do this, they have to come to the Department of State for Voter Registration in order to submit an application.
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publication/media

Petr Tolstoy's "Vremya Pokazhet" (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 143
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 31/03/2019
  • Language/target audience: Russian
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Keywords: Donbas, Elections

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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10 million Ukrainians are not allowed to vote in the presidential elections in Ukraine

10 million voters were not allowed to vote in the presidential elections in Ukraine. Observers from Russia were not allowed to this election. In addition, polling stations in Russia and Donbas were not open. This made it impossible for up to 10 million voters to take part in elections

 

April 02, 2019
Disproof

According to the study “The occupied Donbass: economy, demography, groups of influence. Strategies for Ukraine”, no more than 3.2 million people live in the territories controlled by pro-Russian militants of Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

Also, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Pavel Klimkin, previously noted that about three million Ukrainians live in the Russian Federation as of 2018. And in April 2018, Klimkin noted that several thousand Ukrainians who live in Russia were included in the State Register of Voters, “therefore the thesis that transferring three foreign polling stations from its territory will make it impossible for millions of Ukrainians to vote is manipulative”.Further debunking on StopFake.org.