Moscow wants the Russian presidential election to also take place in the occupied Ukrainian territories

The March 2024 poll will also be held in the annexed regions of Zaporizhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk, after a vote to this effect by the Russian Election Commission.

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A man votes during local elections organized by Russian authorities in the Donetsk region, September 8, 2023. (AFP)

Moscow is trying to impose its presence in disputed areas. The territories occupied by Russia in the east and south of Ukraine will take part in the Russian presidential elections in March 2024, the Electoral Commission announced on Monday, December 11, after the adoption “unanimously” of a resolution approving this modality.

Russia has already organized several elections in these territories whose annexation it proclaimed in September 2022 (Zaporizhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk), despite the fighting, the condemnations of the international community and the fact that Moscow only partially controls these regions. As early as last week, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered that the organization of polls in these regions was “void” And “violates international law”.

Vladimir Putin announced on Friday that he was a candidate for a fifth term in the presidential election on March 17 in Russia. The Russian head of state, whom a 2020 constitutional revision authorizes to be a candidate again in 2030, can theoretically remain in the Kremlin until 2036, the year he turns 84. His re-election is hardly in doubt, especially since the opposition has been dismantled by repression.


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