Polls Close In Ukraine’s Delayed Local Elections

Polls have closed in local elections in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol and the nearby town of Krasnoarmiisk on November 29.

The Central Election Commission said that voter turnout in Mariupol was at 34.6 percent and in Krasnoarmiisk at 34.5 percent.

The two localities, which are on government-held territory in the turbulent Donetsk region, were supposed to participate in local elections last month.

But polling stations there did not open because of disputes over the ballots.

Much of the Donetsk region and the neighboring Luhansk region are controlled by Russia-backed separatists. The separatist leaders have agreed that they would postpone their own elections until sometime next year.

President Petro Poroshenko’s party remains popular in the center and the west, while the pro-Russan opposition has support in the south and east.

With reporting by TASS and AFP