BBC Online :
Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s two eastern regions are holding “self-rule” referendums – a move condemned by the Ukrainian government and the West.
BBC correspondents at polling stations report chaotic scenes, no voting booths in places and no electoral register.
Self-proclaimed leaders in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are going ahead with the vote despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call to postpone it.
Ukraine says the vote could result in the “self-destruction” of the regions.
At the Primorsky polling station in Mariupol, a large crowd is gathered outside, waiting to vote. There is a crush of people inside. Organisation is chaotic at best. There are no polling booths: people vote at the registration desks. People’s details are hastily scribbled on generic forms. There is also a collection for money towards funding the Donetsk People’s Republic.
The chairman of this polling station, Sergei Babin, told the BBC that people from other regions are permitted to vote here. He said their details would be taken down, and then, to ensure they haven’t voted elsewhere, “the lists from different polling stations would be checked against each other”. When asked how long such a mammoth task would take, he replied, “One day.”
Four polling stations are operating across Mariupol yesterday, two days after deadly fighting broke out. Organisers are unsure of basic information regarding the referendum such as number of referendum employees, number of voters or even locations of polling stations.
There is only one question on the ballot papers, in both Ukrainian and Russian: “Do you support the act of state self-rule of the Donetsk People’s Republic/Luhansk People’s Republic?”
And there are still outbreaks of violence, with fighting reported overnight around the rebel-held city of Sloviansk.
The organisers have suggested they intend to hold a second round of voting later this month, on joining Russia. They also say they will boycott Ukraine’s presidential elections on 25 May. On Saturday, Ukraine’s interim President Olexandr Turchynov admitted many in eastern Ukraine supported the pro-Russian militants, but warned that the referendums were “a step towards the abyss”.
The EU and US have also condemned the referendums, amid fears that Ukraine could be sliding to civil war.
