Annexation referendums in Ukraine: mobile brigades and no voting booth
People vote at a mobile polling station during a referendum in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022. AP
Text by: Anissa El Jabri Follow
2 mins
Since Friday September 23, the inhabitants of the recently conquered territories and of the two pro-Russian separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk have been called to vote yes or no on their belonging to Russia.
In Donetsk, the vote will take place in the office only on Tuesday.
Until then, it is mobile brigades, at the foot of buildings or directly at the inhabitant's, which ensure the vote.
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From our special correspondent in Donetsk,
No address, no time, no place… Security requires, say the authorities.
For most of the voting process, it is therefore the members and volunteers of the Electoral Commission who go into contact with the inhabitants.
Lyubov Posokhina came running from the next street, into a small yard, after being warned that Commission agents were here.
“
Well, it's quite a story to get there.
A friend of mine who lives two blocks from my building called me and told me that the electoral commission had arrived at her house.
I went there, but they told me to come here.
It's such a secret, but it's to respect security
, ”she testifies.
The authorities, like the inhabitants, say they fear that the polling places will be targeted by gunfire.
Additional precaution, at the foot of this building, a policeman is present.
It is he who carries the transparent urn.
The volunteers take care of the attendance lists and ballots, a large A4 sheet on which is written the question: "
Do you want to be part of the Russian Federation?"
".
There are two answers: yes or no.
Here, we tick our box all together in the courtyard, between neighbors and sitting with the members of the electoral commission.
Residents place their ballots on the bench or on their knees, there is no voting booth or envelope and the “yes” answers, visible in the ballot box, pile up.
A few hours later, an appointment is made for a door-to-door vote.
It will be done without a uniform.
“
The police are worried about security, but we don't want the weapons to intimidate people
,” explains a commission volunteer.
In the apartment in which the three volunteers go, three elderly neighbors have gathered to wait for them.
There again, they vote together and on the living room table, in front of a witness, they tick a “yes”.
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