[TELEGRAPH.CO.UK] There were no voter lists, no international observers, and only one real candidate. But for voters who turned out for Sunday's rebel-organised elections in eastern Ukraine, there were plenty of cut-price root vegetables.
At polls in the self-declared "people's republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk, stalls outside were selling beetroots, potatoes, onions and carrots for barely a few pence per sack.
Who was subsidising the election-cum-farmers' market was not quite clear. But it was widely suspected to be an attempt by the region's new leaders to maximise voter turnout ‐ and give the polls a much-needed stamp of legitimacy.
"These elections are extremely important," said Alexander Zakharchenko, the incumbent "prime minister" of the Donetsk People's Republic, as he cast his ballot on Sunday. "Today our people will decide the future fate of our state." Mr Zakharchenko left his usual camouflage fatigues at home, instead arriving to vote in a blue suit. His choice of clothes seemed calculated to signal the Donetsk People's Republic transition from a chaotic armed movement to a conventional state, and his own personal transition from a soldier to a politician. |