Tensions Remain as Ukrainians Go to Polls
On Saturday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk urged citizens to vote massively in the country’s parliamentary elections Sunday, saying that Russia could seek to destabilize the electoral process.
“It is clear that attempts to destabilize the situation will continue and be provoked by the Russian side. They did not succeed during the presidential election…but their plans have remained,” said Yatseniuk in a Kyiv press conference.
These are the first parliamentary elections in that country since former President Victor Yanukovich was deposed during the violent, pro-European “EuroMaidan” street protests.
The elections will be held throughout the troubled country, except in the eastern areas of Donetsk and Luhansk which are seeking independence, as well as Crimea whose population of two million people voted overwhelmingly to join the Russian Federation in a March referendum.
Meanwhile the rebels have announced that they will hold their own elections on November 2, which Western officials have said they will not recognize.
About 4.6 million Ukrainians are eligible to take part in the parliamentary elections.
According to polls, the current president’s own party, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, are poised to win the elections. However, Poroshenko may not win a majority, likely signalling a continued alliance with nationalist parties, including groups which have been called fascists such as the Right Sector group.
The violence in the country, including Ukrainian army shelling of the eastern areas controlled by rebels have killed thousands and led to the displacements of hundreds of thousands, according to United Nations figures.
Despite a peace agreement brokered by neighbouring countries in September, Ukrainians are more divided than ever.