Turchynov: 24% Residents Of Luhansk Oblast and 32% of Donetsk Oblast Voted in So-Called ‘Referendum’

Speaking at the coordination board of the Verkhovna Rada, speaker of the Verkhovna Rada/Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov says 24% of residents of Luhansk Oblast and 32% of Donetsk Oblast with the right to vote had voted in the so-called 'referendum', according to the information from the Interior Ministry and experts present on May 11 in the Donetsk Oblast.

At the same time Turchynov underlined that voting at the "referendum" in many towns of Luhansk Region and Donetsk Region was not held at all. Turchynov strressed that the 'referendum' is a farce without any act of law. "This farce can have only one consequence: criminal responsibility for its organisers," he said.

Turchynov also notes, the economic situation in Luhansk Region and Donetsk Region remains very tense as separate bodies of power, seized by separatists, are not functioning.

Meanwhile, the separatists in Donetsk Oblast announce that 89.07% of those voting in Donetsk Oblast voted for the 'Donbas National Republic'. One of their leaders, Roman Liagin, who was responsible for counting the voices, stated that 74.87% of people attended so-called “referendum” during a briefing on Sunday. According to Liagin’s words, 89.07% of people in Donetsk region voted for establishment of the self-proclaimed DNR [Donbas National Republic], 10.19% - against it, 0.74% of bulletins were spoiled. Liagin explained, that they managed to count the bulletins so quickly due to the tense situation, including the one in Krasnoarmiysk. The results are final.

There are 3,35 million of the voters living in Donetsk Oblast. The Oblast is separated into 21 voting regions with 2425 polling stations in total. In particular, 706 thousands of the voters are registered in Donetsk, where 371 polling stations have to work for them. Besides this, Liagin stated, that there will be no Ukrainian Presidential elections in Donetsk Oblast, there are new referendums under preparation in Donetsk, and they are not going to separate yet. 96% of the voters in Luhansk Oblast voted for the independence of the 'republic', as the 'comission' head Oleksandr Malykhin announced on a press conference in Luhansk on May 12. He claims that 1,359,420 'ballots' were distributed at the polling stations, and another 15,000 were handed out for mobile voting. Out of them, the independence of Luhansk Oblast was presumably supported by 1,298,084 people (96% of those that voted), against were 51,276 people (3,8% from those that voted). 10,600 ballots were spoiled. The voter turnout was 75%, informed Malykhin. As reported earlier, during the so-called 'referendum' people were allowed to vote for absent persons. Cases with voters submitting more than one 'ballot' were also registered there. Not all the 'stations' had a list of voters, thus everyone who desired was given an opportunity to vote regardless of citizenship. Besides this, one German journalist informed that he was able to vote six times. It is also known that the voting took place on the street and without booths. Source: unian.net, un.ua, pravda.com.ua