The referendum on self-determination of the Luhansk People's Republic

On March 27, 1994, in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, a vote was held that, according to the statements of the organizers, corresponds to the law of Ukraine “On All-Ukrainian and Local Referendums” ^[8] . 4 questions were posed to it. Voting results in the Luhansk region were as follows: ^[8]

1. Do you agree that the Constitution of Ukraine enshrines the federal-land system of Ukraine?

   In Lugansk region, no results were found on this issue.

2. Do you agree that the Constitution of Ukraine enshrines the functioning of the Russian language as the state language of Ukraine along with the state Ukrainian language?
   • Over - 90.38%
   • Against - 5.04%
   • Invalid ballots - 4.58%
   • Excluding invalid ballots: for - 94.72%
3. Do you agree that in the Lugansk region the language of work, paperwork and documentation, as well as education and science, should be Russian along with Ukrainian?
   • Over - 90.91%
   • Against - 4.51%
   • Invalid ballots - 4.58%
   • Excluding invalid ballots: for - 95.27%
4. Are you for signing the CIS Charter, the full participation of Ukraine in the economic union, in the interparliamentary assembly of the CIS states? (in 1994, it was synonymous with Eurasian integration).
   • Over - 90.74%
   • Against - 4.54%
   • Invalid ballots - 4.72%
   • Excluding invalid ballots: for - 95.24%

The turnout in the survey was 75% ^[8] . The voting results were ignored by Kiev ^[8] .

The decision to hold referenda (the 2nd referendum was planned to join the Russian Federation or Ukraine on May 18, 2014) was one of the key points in the confrontation between the members of the LPR and the central government, since the local referenda provided for by the Constitution are not supported by the current law that enshrines the procedure for their holding, and also can not relate to issues of territorial integrity of the country.

On May 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference on the outcome of negotiations held in Moscow with OSCE chairman Didier Burkhalter , appealed to federalization supporters in southeastern Ukraine to postpone referendums on separation of the self - proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk from May 11 People’s Republic - in order to create the necessary conditions for "a full-fledged dialogue between the current Kiev authorities and representatives of the south-east of Ukraine" ^{[9] [10]} . On May 8, 2014, members of the Lugansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic decided not to postpone the date of the referendum on the status of regions for another term in the context of the continuation of hostilities ^[11] .

Preparations for the referendum were carried out in a short time and took about 5 weeks. . The post of the head of the press center of the CEC of the LNR was taken by Valery Nikitin ^[12] . The chairman of the CEC was Alexander Malykhin, the secretary of the CEC was Lara Rakitnaya ^[13]

In preparation for the LPR referendum, the CEC of Ukraine blocked the electronic databases of voters in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, so somewhat outdated data was used as of April 9, 2012: then 1 million 830 thousand voters were registered in the Lugansk region ^{[14] [15 ] [15 ] ]} . According to the observations of the Lugansk branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine ^[16] , there were no voter lists, voting took place on the passport, the data from which were recorded on the spot in a notebook serving as a voters list.

Voting ballots were made on plain paper in A5 format by printing on a printer or photocopying, had no protection, holograms or seals. Despite this, a member of the LPR, Vasily Nikitin, stated that it was impossible to fake a ballot for voting in a referendum ^{[17] [18]}

On May 11, 2014, one issue was raised at a general regional referendum . It looks like this:

Among the answer options are “No” or “Yes”.

The Constitution and legislation of Ukraine provides only for an all-Ukrainian referendum, only a parliament can appoint a referendum on changing the territorial structure ^[15] .

The new Ukrainian authorities called referenda in Donetsk and Lugansk illegitimate in advance ^[19] . And about. President of Ukraine Alexander Turchinov said that referenda in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions will not have any legal consequences, only the organizers will answer for them. Nevertheless, the authorities, he said, will engage in dialogue with those in eastern Ukraine, "who have no blood on their hands and are ready to defend their goals and beliefs by legal means ^[20] ." The CEC of Ukraine said that "the actions that were simulated on May 11 in the territories of certain districts of Donetsk and Lugansk regions have nothing to do with the referendum process and do not bear any legal consequences" ^[21] .

Voting took place only in those settlements where the supporters of the LPR controlled the situation. The most active voting took place in areas where they were supported by local authorities ^[19] .

In general, in the Lugansk region, polling stations worked from 8 am to 8 pm, but in some cities their work was extended to 23-24 hours for miners and metallurgists working on shift schedules ^[14] . Although the representative of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine (officially refused to conduct observation) in Novodruzhevsk recorded the fact that the ballot was issued to the miner's wife, who was allegedly on a shift in the mine ^[16] .

Voting took place in a tense atmosphere. Problems with the supply of ballots and the organization of polling stations were observed in rural areas blocked by the armed forces of Ukraine. A similar situation was observed in Svatovsky, Melovsky, Belokurakinsky and Troitsky districts ^[22] .

According to the organizers, despite the alarming atmosphere, a record turnout of 75% of voters was set at a regional referendum. Moreover, in the cities of Krasnodon , Krasnyi Luch and Rubezhnoye, the voter turnout, according to the estimates of the organizers, reached 95% ^[23] . For comparison, only 58% of the region’s voters participated in the 2012 parliamentary elections ^{[14] [24]} . According to the referendum organizers, 96.2% voted in favor and 3.8% voted against ^{[25] [26]} .

According to the unfounded statement and. about. President of Ukraine Alexander Turchinov , 24% of voters participated in the referendum in the Luhansk region ^[21] .

Due to the non-recognition of the referendum by most countries of the world and international organizations, international observers were not sent to it. Also, due to the complexity of crossing the border and the tense situation in the region, there were few observers from the Russian Federation and its friendly organizations in the Luhansk region ^[27] . Among the participating international observers was Andrei Markin, a native of the Russian Federation , with Canadian citizenship ^[12] .

Neither the OSCE nor the Council of Europe sent any representatives, since in such cases they are invited by the official government. The Russian Federation also did not send official observers ^[15] , Russian deputies also did not come to referenda ^[28]

According to journalists, there were no voting booths in the polling stations; it was also possible to vote without a passport, re-vote, as well as receive several ballots supposedly for spouses or relatives (upon presentation of their documents) ^{[17] [29]} .

According to and. about. Governor of the Lugansk region Irina Verigina , in the north of the region there was no referendum at all, and therefore, turnout figures are doubtful ^[29] .

The data on the turnout and the results of voting significantly differ from the results of a study conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology in April, according to which support for the idea of ​​federalization of Ukraine in the Donetsk region was just over 40%, accession to Russia was just over 30% ^{[29] [30]} .

State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, leader of the For Human Rights movement Lev Ponomaryov, as well as the head of the Interregional Association of Voters and co-chairman of the GOLOS movement Andrei Buzin, held referenda in Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine raised great doubts about legitimacy. According to Buzin, due to violations during the organization and conduct, “there is no need to talk about the turnout” and it is impossible to form an objective opinion about her. Statements by referendum organizers about their reality at any turnout “are contrary to all world practice.” Ponomarev described the turnout at the referendum as “large,” but 70 percent “didn’t mention anything” materialized as a result of his referendum; in his estimation, the turnout at the two referenda was about 40 percent ^[31] .

Sociologist Alexander Kireev and several others conducted a mathematical analysis of the results of the referendum, according to which the referendum organizers' data on the turnout of 1,359,420 people made up exactly 75.2000% of the total number of voters, 1,807,739. Similarly, the number of votes in favor is 1,298,084, that is, exactly 96.2000% of the total number of valid ballots 1,349,360. The probability of occurrence of each of the round to one decimal place numbers in this case is less than 1/1000. The probability of repeating such a result twice is 1/1 000 000. ^{[32] [33]}

On May 12, 2014, a spokesman for the Russian president Dmitry Peskov said that Vladimir Putin would formulate his attitude to the referenda on the status of Donetsk and Lugansk regions “based on their results” ^[34] . Then the presidential press service said that “Moscow respects the will of the people of Donetsk and Lugansk regions and proceeds from the fact that the practical implementation of the results of the referenda will take place in a civilized way, without any recurrence of violence, through dialogue between representatives of Kiev and Donetsk and Lugansk. In the interest of establishing such a dialogue, any mediation efforts, including those of the OSCE, are welcomed. ” ^[35]

The United States and the EU before the referendum announced that they would not recognize its results, and warned of the possibility of introducing a third package of economic sanctions against the Russian Federation if, due to a vote in eastern Ukraine , the presidential elections scheduled for May 25 were disrupted. According to the representative of the US Department of State, Jen Psaki , all regional referenda in Ukraine are illegal and "fake", this step "leads to a split and unrest" ^[36] .

OSCE Chairman and President Didier Burkhalter called the vote “illegal” ^[21] .

The Secretary General of the Government of Japan, Yoshihide Suga, said that the referendum held on May 11 in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine lacked democratic legitimacy ^[37] .

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that the results of the Eurovision song contest deserve more trust and significance than the results of a referendum in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine ^[38] .

• The referendum on self-determination of the Donetsk People's Republic
• The referendum on the status of Crimea (2014)
• A photocopy of the final protocol of the CEC of the Lugansk region on the Lugansk site.