Pro-Russia leaders in Ukraine’s restive eastern regions have rejected the results of the country’s parliamentary elections as a “farce.” Deputy Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk Andrei Purgin said Sunday’s snap elections were not just as eastern Ukraine was not represented in the process. Purgin also accused Ukrainian authorities of intimidating the voters, and cast doubt on the ability of the new parliament to find a solution to the current crisis in the east. “Ukraine is in a deep crisis, I doubt that the new parliament will find a way out of it,” said Purgin, adding, “They have halted the chemical industry, they have lost the east. Europe is paying for the Ukrainian gas... A counter-elite comes to power, which is not interested in solving the crisis.” Exit polls have indicated a victory for the bloc, comprising of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s party. According to Poroshenko, over 75 percent of voters have supported Ukraine’s path of better relations with Europe. This is while some three million voters in the eastern regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, which are under the control of pro-Russia forces, were unable to cast ballots in the elections. The leaders of these regions are scheduling their own elections to be held in early November. The Ukrainian parliamentary elections took place amid ongoing fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russia forces in the volatile east. Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions in the east have been the scene of deadly clashes between pro-Russia protesters and the Ukrainian army since the government in Kiev launched military operations in mid-April in a bid to crush the protests.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/2788
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