International observers said Monday (26 October) that local elections in Ukraine were “well-organised and transparent”, but criticised a survey organised near polling stations at the initiative of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
On Sunday, the ex-Soviet state of some 40 million people voted to elect mayors and local councils, with no polls in Russia-annexed Crimea and eastern regions controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
Several days before the election, Zelenskiy announced that voters would be asked to answer five questions on social issues, including the legalisation of medical cannabis.
Analysts and the opposition denounced the move as an attempt by Zelenskiy to mobilise his party base.
The poll “appeared to create an undue political advantage on election day and blurred the separation of state and party”, observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said in a statement.
The OSCE added that the “voting process was…
