DONETSK, September 18. /TASS/. Polling stations in the Donetsk People’s Republic have officially wrapped up their first day of work, a TASS correspondent reports.
The polling stations were open from 8:00 a.m. Moscow time (5:00 a.m. GMT) and closed at 8:00 p.m. Moscow time (5:00 p.m. GMT). According to the regional election commission, there are a total of 633 polling stations in the region. At some polling stations, voters were greeted by music and various activities were held, such as making greeting cards. At one of the polling stations, a girl came to vote in a national costume with a kokoshnik (a traditional Russian headdress) while her companion came in a bear costume.
A situation center for election observation was launched in the DPR today. For the first time, observers can send information about voting through the digital platform of the Independent Public Monitoring association. DPR Prime Minister Andrey Chertkov and Donetsk Mayor Alexey Kulemzin were two of the first to cast their vote today.
Early voting took place in the region from August 30 to September 17. Military personnel were the first to vote, and civilians began voting on September 8. According to the latest data, about 1.5 million people – around 80% of the voters – voted in the DPR.
On September 13, DPR head Denis Pushilin told TASS that the republic’s participation in the State Duma elections is the final political step in the region’s integration and reunification as Russia’s subject with the rest of the country.
