Russia plans mass election fraud in occupied Ukraine to secure 70% for Putin's party
Mass election fraud is a traditional tool of the Kremlin (photo: Getty Images)
The administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered its proxies in the occupied territories of Ukraine to ensure at least 70% "support" for the United Russia party in the elections to the Russian State Duma. The warning was issued by Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.
"Russia is preparing to massively falsify the so-called elections to the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament) in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The Putin administration has set the task of ensuring voter turnout of more than 65–70% in the temporarily occupied territories," Kovalenko stressed.
He pointed out that the so-called elections in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine are completely illegal, but the Kremlin will try to use them specifically to legitimize the occupation.
As Kovalenko noted, all of this is taking place against the backdrop of widespread rhetoric in support of an "eternal war." In fact, all parties support the continuation of hostilities against Ukraine.
Moreover, the Yabloko political party, which opposed the war, was demonstratively removed from the elections to prevent it from receiving a noticeable percentage of the vote.
"This is further proof that the Putin regime sees no future without war and is afraid to show support for anti-war sentiment. At the same time, the share of the population in Russia that opposes the continuation of the war is steadily growing. These are mainly residents of Russia's regions, although similar sentiments are also being recorded in Moscow, where rumors of possible mobilization are being received extremely negatively," Kovalenko added.
According to him, this currently concerns a population that is incapable of organized street protests. Against this backdrop, he recalled that the situation was similar in the Soviet Union, which collapsed due to economic problems and negative public sentiment among people who criticized the authorities in their own kitchens.
Earlier, the only party in Russia that opposed the war against Ukraine was removed from the elections.
