DONETSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th November, 2018) Elections of the leader and members of parliament of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) are being held without violations, and the voter turnout is high, Sergei Tsekov, Russian parliament's upper house lawmaker representing Crimea who is present as an observer, said at a press briefing on Sunday.
The elections in the DPR and the neighboring Luhansk People's Republic (LRR) started earlier on Sunday when polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time (05:00 GMT).
"I have registered high activity. I see that people are in a good mood, I haven't seen any violations in the election process. I have talked to the voters. They understand how important the elections of the leader and the lawmakers of the republic are. In my opinion, the turnout is higher than in several Russian regions," Tsekov said.
Jan Penris, Belgian parliament's lower house lawmaker, who is an international observer at the DPR elections, praised the organization of the elections.
"This is my first visit to Donetsk, and I see that the elections have been organized perfectly. While voting in elections is compulsory in Belgium, here everything depends on a person's free will," Penris told reporters.
Kostas Isihos, former Greek deputy defense minister, who is also an international observer at the elections, stressed that the elections did not contravene the Minsk peace accords.
"European countries are focused on Donetsk and Luhansk today. This is very important for me. The way you are following a democratic path should be an example for the European countries. An election day is quite a dull event in Europe, as the election process is too bureaucratic. These elections will mark the republic's regeneration as a free state," Isihos said.
Acting DPR head Denis Pushilin as well as acting LPR leader Leonid Pasechnik are the front-runners in their republics' elections.
The two parties competing for seats in the DPR parliament are Pushilin's Donetsk Republic and the Free Donbas party. Seats in the LPR parliament will be distributed between Pasechnik's Peace for Luhansk Region and the Luhansk Economic Union.
The preliminary results of the DPR elections will be announced on Monday midnight local time.
Kiev has already said that it would not recognize the results of the voting, while the Kremlin pointed out that the elections would not violate the Minsk agreements.
