International observers note voluntarily nature of referendums in Donbass
The three indoor stations complied with all international principles of free and secret ballot, Patrick Baab, a German observer, said
Voting at the referendum on the accession to Russia in Donbass is voluntary and proceeds in compliance with all international principles, international observers told a briefing in Donetsk on Sunday.
“We visited five polling stations in Lugansk. In a school, in a theater, in a bus and two outdoors. The three indoor stations complied with all international principles of free and secret ballot,” Patrick Baab, a German observer, said, adding that secrecy was not ensured outdoors, as there were no voting booths.
According to the German observer, voting at two out of three polling stations he visited in Mariupol also was in conformity with international standards and there were no polling booths at the outdoors polling station either. “State services explain it by security requirements, since polling stations in many localities are to be mobile. But this is the only violation,” he stressed.
Another observer, Janlisbert Velasco of Venezuela, added that she doesn’t think it to be a serious violation. “It would be a violation to make people voted at a gunpoint as voluntary voting is the international standard,” she said.
According to Velasco, people were allowed to fill in ballot papers in their cars at several outdoors polling stations where there were no voting booths. “But many people said they had been waiting for this referendum for eight years and were ready to vote openly,” she noted.
