Contents tagged with Elections

  • Georgia condemns Russian elections in Abkhazia and South Ossetia

    On the 18th of September, Russia opened polling stations in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali in the South Ossetia region, which was condemned in a statement made by the Georgian Foreign Ministry.

    The statement said that as a result of the decision of the head of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, over 114,000 people living in the occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions were included in the voter lists of various federal entities in order for them to vote for candidates in …

  • Crimean Tatars boycotted Russian Duma elections

    Many Crimean Tatars did not come to the polls on voting day in Russia on Sunday, September 18, 2016. The turnout at the precinct on their part was minimal as it was in 2014 during the referendum on the status of the Crimea, Radio Svoboda reported.

    Refusal to participate is not indifference or inaction but a conscious protest against "lies that continue to inspire people on TV by different leaders, their deputies, officials and candidates,” stated the representatives of the Tatar population of …

  • OSCE: Russian elections marred by restrictions on basic rights

    The OSCE has stated that the Russian Duma elections were marred by restrictions on basic rights and democratic commitments, Reuters reported.

    Putin’s political allies won a landslide victory during Sunday’s elections, and while monitors did notice some improvements over previous elections, tampering and fraud are still believed to have padded the vote numbers for United Russia, the Communist Party, the nationalist LDPR, and A Just Russia, all pro-Putin political parties.

    According to Finnish …

  • US Ambassador to Ukraine: Washington doesn't recognize the legitimacy of Russian elections in Crimea

    The US Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, stated on September 15 that the United States will never recognize the Russian State Duma elections in the territory of annexed Crimea.

    “I will remind you of the US position once again: The Crimea is and will always be part of Ukraine despite all possible legal actions of Russia. We will never recognize the Crimea as a part of Russia. We also don’t recognize the elections to the Russian State Duma that are taking place in the territory of the …

  • French and German Foreign Ministers: We do not recognize the annexation of Crimea

    The German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said that their countries do not recognize the annexation of Ukrainian Crimea by Russia.

    "Concerning the second question, about the legitimacy of the elections to the State Duma in Crimea, as my colleague Ayrault said, we do not recognize and will not recognize the annexation of Crimea," Frank-Walter Steinmeier said, answering a question by a correspondent of LB.u as …

  • Russians who come to Russian diplomatic missions in Ukraine to vote may be expelled from Ukraine

    According to Evropeyskaya Pravda’s article entitled “Voting with Deportation: How Kyiv Can Stop Russian Elections in Diplomatic Missions,” participating in elections to the State Duma on September 18th in the territory of Ukraine is illegal, which may result in expulsion from the country.

    “The Security Service of Ukraine has two powerful tools to counter the elections. One is called ‘recognition of a citizen as a persona non grata’ and the other is ‘the expulsion of a foreign national,” which, …

  • Ariev: Ukrainian delegation could leave PACE if Russia returns

    According to the chairman of the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), possible recognition of the powers of the Russian representatives of PACE after elections in the annexed Crimea will mean that this organization "does not respect itself and its own principles."

    The probability of withdrawal of the Ukrainian delegation from PACE in case the organization decides to accept the credentials of the Russian delegation after the next elections to the …

  • Poroshenko urges international community to not recognize Russian elections in Crimea

    Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has stressed the importance of maintaining the non-recognition policy of the illegal annexation of the Crimea, where the human rights situation is catastrophically deteriorating. This includes the use of punitive Soviet-style medicine. This was said at a meeting of the Ambassadors of the G7 countries and the European Union.

    Poroshenko also urged the non-recognition of the legitimacy of the parliamentary elections in the Russian Federation, which Moscow is …

  • Official: It is Ukraine's right to prohibit Russian elections on Ukrainian territory

    To allow or deny elections within its territory is a sovereign right of Ukraine. It should not give anyone authorization, the Deputy Head of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine, Andriy Mahera, said in his comments to GORDON.

    According to Mahera, the decision of the Ukrainian authorities on the prohibition of conducting elections for the State Duma of the Russian Federation within the territory of Ukraine on the 18th of September is consistent with international law.

    "There is a …

  • Human rights group: Elections in Crimea could lead to new wave of repression

    The electoral process in the annexed Crimea could lead to a new wave of repression if the Crimean people publicly express their opposition to it, the chairperson of the Crimean Human Rights Group, Olha Skrypnyk, said in comments to independent Ukrainian radio broadcast Hromadske.

    “The so-called election process in the Crimea may lead to a new wave of repression. If people are going to publicly disclose or write that they do not agree with these elections, urging people not to go to those …