Voter turnout is one way to measure citizens trust toward their government and the direction it is going in. I was asked to be an International Election observer in Lugansk People's Republic to make sure there was no fraud, interference with voters, and that the election followed international standards.
LNR had a 77% turnout and Donetsk was 80%. When you look at the image above from the "We will not forget! We will not forgive!" memorial it is the mass grave for over 800 people killed in the conflict that are as yet still unidentified.
Most are soldiers, some are civilian women and children that simply couldn't get out of the way. For Ukraine, it made no difference. That's why the turnout is so high and why the war must be stopped.
The international election observers all took their work very seriously because of the injustices Donbass residents face. Everyone I spoke with had the same goal and it was to make sure residents had a strong political voice and could decide their future for themselves.
This video highlights how the election weekend shaped up and the next few articles and videos will fill in the detail about what is going on in LNR today.
Because the election IS legal, Ukraine is threatening to blitz Donbass as a retaliatory measure.
We are still working out some of the kinks in audio but this is the first installment showing what's going on in Lugansk.