https://tass.com/pressreview/1513269
On Sunday, the Donetsk and the Lugansk People’s Republics and the areas of Ukraine’s Kherson and the Zaporozhye Regions under control by Russian troops finished their third day of voting on accession to Russia. All four regions said voters were very proactive, though people have so far been casting their vote at mobile polling stations or at places near their homes, while stationary ones won’t open until Tuesday. According to observers and the media, people are queuing up to vote, while official reports said voter turnout had already exceeded 50% in the DPR, the LPR and the Zaporozhye Region, and the referendums there may be considered valid already.
The DPR’s Central Election Commission said voter turnout on the first two days of the referendum was 55.05%, and exceeded 77% by 08:00 pm on Sunday. The LPR’s chief electoral officer Yelena Kravchenko said more than 76% of voters had taken part by Sunday evening. At the same time, voter turnouts in the Zaporozhye and the Kherson Regions hit 51.5% and 48.91%, respectively. Under the legislation on the referendum adopted earlier in the DPR and the LPR, the plebiscites shall be viewed as valid with voter turnout at more than 50%, while the decision on accession is considered made if more than half of people on the list of voters support it.
Kommersant reminds its readers that while residents of the two Donbass republics are invited to choose whether or not they approve of joining Russia as separate constituent members, voters in the Kherson and the Zaporozhye Regions should also decide whether to exit Ukraine.