This weekend some truly bizarre elections, featuring armed soldiers and artillery fire, were held in the self-styled People’s Republic of Donetsk and the People’s Republic of Luhansk.

According to the Los Angeles Times, in Donetsk “the breakaway region’s election committee, which operated without a voter registry, conducted polling in the presence of armed fighters and carried ballot boxes to villagers who were reluctant to brave artillery fire to vote.”

Both contests were condemned by the U.N., the E.U., the U.S. and, of course, the government in Kiev.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko responded by trying to revoke a law providing more autonomy to the breakaway territories.

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer

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#donetsk#election#europe#government#law#petro poroshenko#russia#ukraine