2024-03-14T11:45:00+02:00 Politics 2024-09-15T04:36:12+03:00

Ukrainian news

Russia overestimates number of "voters" in occupied territories by 80% - media reports

Russia overestimates number of "voters" in occupied territories by 80% - media reports

Russia has almost doubled the number of residents of the occupied territories of Ukraine who will allegedly take part in the presidential elections. The occupiers claimed 4.5 million "registered" voters, but the real number of residents of these territories is smaller.

This was reported by the russian media Important Stories with reference to its sources.

Journalists drew attention to the fact that the day before, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the russian federation reported on 4.5 million voters who allegedly "registered" in the occupied territories.

In the fall of 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the russian federation announced that the projected number of residents of the occupied territories of Ukraine with russian passports would be 3.2 million people.

Important Histories notes that the russians once again allowed residents of the occupied territories to participate in elections without russian passports.

According to a russian demographer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, even taking into account residents who did not receive russian passports, the number of "registered" voters in the occupied territories is almost twice the real numbers.

"If we talk about the territories of Luhansk and Donetsk Regions, there was absolutely no need to register the population there. First of all, because of problems with migration registration. Both Ukraine and russia talked about millions of refugees from Donbas. These hundreds of thousands of people were counted as forced migrants in other regions of Ukraine or russia, but they were not deleted from the permanent population of Luhansk and Donetsk Regions," said the demographer.

He emphasized that the officials continue to work according to the pre-war rules when a person can be considered to have been kicked out only if he independently removed himself from the place of registration.

The demographer added that after the start of the full-scale invasion, the outflow of refugees also began in the Zaporizhzhia and the Kherson Regions, but "on paper," these people continue to be considered residents of these territories.

The interlocutor of Important Stories assumed that the real number of permanent residents of the occupied territories of Ukraine is about 3 million people. Of them, 2.5 million are adults.

Thus, the number of "registered" voters declared by the Central Election Commission of the russian Federation is 80% higher than the actual number of adults in the occupied territories.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on March 13, the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain told in its intelligence review how the Kremlin creates the illusion of supporting dictator Vladimir Putin in the occupied territories.

Earlier, experts of the Sociological Association of Ukraine stated that the illegal holding of elections in the captured territories is the main tool for legalizing the occupation of Ukraine.