Russia's Ruling Party Heads to Victory in Crimea Polls
Russia's ruling party headed to a convincing victory in Crimea polls on Monday, with a preliminary count showing it won more than 70 percent in the first local elections since the peninsula's annexation from Ukraine in March.
Crimea's residents joined Russians across the country in voting in local elections on Sunday which saw President Vladimir Putin cement his grip on power.
While the vote will not add legitimacy to Crimea in the eyes of the West or Ukraine, Kremlin-friendly analysts said it shows that Crimea's residents conclusively backed joining Russia.
"Currently the Crimea regional branch of United Russia is leading with 71.04 percent," Crimea's electoral commission said on Monday morning after 50 percent of votes for Crimea's parliament had been counted.
The ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), led by firebrand lawyer Vladimir Zhirinovsky who backs the Kremlin, was running second with just over eight percent of the vote.
No other party appeared to have broken the five percent barrier for representation in the Crimean regional parliament, with a turnout of around 52 percent.
The inhabitants of the Crimea peninsula, where Russia's Black Sea naval fleet is based, were voting to select lawmakers for the parliaments of Crimea and Sevastopol, and for local city councilors.
Parliamentarians will then elect governors for Crimea and Sevastopol.
In polls for the regional parliament of the city of Sevastopol, with 65 percent of the votes counted, United Russia had won 76 percent, while LDPR won 7 percent, with a turnout of 47 percent, its electoral commission said.
Ukraine condemned the votes as illegitimate in a statement issued by its foreign ministry.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who leads the ruling United Russia party, said the vote proved Russia was acting legitimately in Crimea.
"All the participants in the electoral campaign in Crimea have proved to us and our neighbors that power in Russia is based on legal procedures," Medvedev said Monday in remarks released by the government.
On Sunday, he called Crimea's elections "highly competitive".
Kremlin loyalist Sergei Aksyonov, whom was named acting governor of Crimea by Putin in April, claimed the polls were the first-ever fair vote on the peninsula.
"This is the first result at an election in the history of Crimea that was achieved in an honest way," said Aksyonov, writing on Facebook.
The head of Crimea's electoral commission, Mikhail Malyshev, acknowledged flaws in the vote, saying that more than 80,000 Crimea residents were added to electoral registers on the day of the polls.
"It's obvious to everyone why this situation arose: the speed with which (Russian) passports were given out in the republic of Crimea," he was quoted as saying by TASS.
Analysts said the Crimean vote was hugely symbolic.
"People are active and they really don't want to go back to Ukraine, so there is huge support for United Russia. They voted to finally, irrevocably, join Russia," said Alexei Makarkin of the Center for Political Technologies.
As the conflict in east Ukraine has escalated, the issue of Crimea's annexation by Moscow appears to have been pushed into the background.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on television on Saturday: "I assure you, in phone calls and contacts between our presidents, this question is not mentioned."
Russia on Sunday held nationwide local elections for governors or local assemblies in 84 regions that led to few surprises as candidates backed by the Kremlin largely sealed victory in a skilfully orchestrated campaign.
"The support for the authorities was very high, it is an obvious success for the authorities," said Kremlin-friendly Makarkin.
"There weren't any protests against the removal of candidates."
Source: Agence France Presse
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