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Exit polls in Ukraine local elections show east-west split

Local elections in Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol were called off on Sunday, prompting the ruling party of President Petro Poroshenko and the pro-Russian Opposition Party to blame each other for alleged irregularities in the vote.

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Russian Federation and Ukraine share a long history and a fierce animosity sparked by months of 2013-2014 winter protests that ousted then Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych and brought a strongly pro-Western leadership to power.

The Central Election Committee says it has received the tally from only 30 percent of the vote by Monday morning.

Politsurfer / WikicommonsThe comments come after the USA and European Union imposed sanctions on Russian defense companies past year following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Political conflicts also led to the postponement of elections in two other eastern cities, Krasnoarmiisk and Svatovo.

Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk. “This made it impossible for more than 5 million voters in these areas to vote”.

According to a poll from mid-October, 13 per cent of voters planned to support Mr Poroshenko’s party in local elections and the next three parties – including Opposition Party – had equal support of 11 per cent.

“Of course, it will make life more hard”, the IT specialist said, while still clutching his Russian passport after passing the Customs zone.

The conflict has so far killed a few 8,000 people and displaced over a million in a nation grappling with corruption and high unemployment.

The incumbent mayor of Kiev, former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, faced 28 challengers.

No date has been set for local elections to take place in Mariupol, though Poroshenko indicated they could be held before the end of the year, with the parliament’s approval. In that case they should have acted legally and if there were problems with security, they should have put Mariupol in the list of the towns where elections can’t be held,”said expert Olha Aivazovska, the head of the Civil Network OPORA”.

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In a statement released on Sunday, the organization concluded that the elections had been “competitive, well organized overall, and the campaign generally showed respect for the democratic process”. Her party, Batkivshchyna, was doing better this year than many of her rivals.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his wife Maryna visit a polling station during a regional election in Kiev Ukraine yesterday