Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his wife, Marina, vote in local elections ini Kyiv on October 25.
Anna Nemtsova, Daily Beast: They’re Brawling at the Polls in Ukraine
A large segment of the country couldn’t participate, and other parts didn’t dare. But for all the uproar, a faint scent of peace is in the air.
It was better, at least, than fighting in a war. The balloting in Ukraine’s local elections on Sunday was messy and sometimes violent. Candidates and voters lost their tempers, smashed each other’s faces, fractured digits and twisted arms at polling sites in Melitopol, Kharkiv and Odessa as tensions lingered in badly bloodied eastern Ukraine.
Most of the towns of the Donbass region, with its population of over 3 million people, were not able to vote because the territory remains in the hands of pro-Russian militants. Overall, more than five million Ukrainian citizens out of 45 million were unable to vote because of the lingering effects of the two-year conflict. But the momentum has gone out of the rebellion, a ceasefire has been holding, and Moscow has turned its attention elsewhere.
WNU Editor: What's my take on these local elections .... the country is deeply divided between east and west, and Ukrainian President Poroshenko is deeply unpopular. Still .... I rather have my fellow Ukrainians brawling in the polling booths than shooting at each other. Unfortunately .... the war can easily "blow-up" again .... Local official says Donetsk airport shelled for 4 hours (TASS). Ukrainian soldier killed near Donetsk as cease-fire is shaken (RFE).
More News On Ukraine's Local Elections
Exit Polls Show Ukraine Divided For, Against Poroshenko Rule -- FRE
Exit polls in Ukraine local elections show east-west split, government retaining its hold -- AP
Ukraine Election 2015 Update: Voting Results Show Division Between Eastern And Western Part Of The Country -- IBTimes
Ukraine Vote Hands Defeats to Government Near East War Zone -- Bloomberg
Dispute over Mariupol mars Ukraine’s regional elections -- Financial Times
Ukraine: Mariupol vote called off amid ‘irregularities’ -- Euronews
Ukraine holds local elections that test oligarchs' reach -- AP
Why a 'Star Wars' Emperor Won Office in Ukraine -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg
3 comments:
As husband and wife, neither have their wedding rings on in this picture.
James .... you always surprise me when you catch these details. Something to bring up when I call my "politically-connected" cousin in Kiev.
Let me know, it's one of those things that most likely has a mundane explanation, but who knows?
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