Nothing “sham” about it.
Its a better election than the sham, fraudulent, stolen “election” that brought Dementia Joe to power.
What do you mean,nothing sham about it?
Zaporizhzhia Oblast has 720,000 registered citizens MINIMUM in the capital city in the Ukrainian controlled north. On top of that, Zaporizhzhia’s Ukrainian controlled areas are hosting thousands of people who fled Kherson, Mariupol, Donetsk and Luhansk.
Not one of those people has a vote in this referendum.
Russian rhetoric is that Russian speakers deserve the right to vote for Russian annexation. Well, every adult over the age of 47 who lives and grew up in Zaporizhzhia Oblast HAD to learn Russian. And the generation after definitely grew up in Russian speaking households. Don’t they get a vote?!
At best 300,000 citizens of voting age live in the Russian controlled south. They all get a vote - delivered door to door, with their vote cast on camera. Nobody voting “no” in this vote can do so without the separatists and Russian state officials knowing that they have effectively self-identified as enemies of the Russian state.
Booths to vote in the Zaporizhzhia referendum are set up in Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk, Crimea and Russia. No identity checks, no measures to prevent ballot stuffing.
Not even one ballot box has been put into the northern third of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Stupid thing is, there are more ethnic Russians in the Ukrainian held territory than in the separatist south - people it insists wouldn’t be opposed to Russian federation integration.
If Russia really wanted a legitimate referendum they would’ve crowed at Kyiv banning “collaboration” and invited the city to vote. Instead the separatists ruled that out completely and said if 50% + 1 of their 300k voters choose “yes” then they’re going to say to the 720,000 in the city “welcome to Russia!”
It’s been deliberately rigged to ensure that 150,000 “da!” votes can trump up to 870,000 combined “nyet!” and “you didn’t let me vote”.
To say it lacks legitimacy is an understatement.
What’s more, any residents of Zaporizhzhia city who refuse to be Russified against their will at the stroke of a pen, Russia has already said, is an “invader” and enemy of the state.
So perversely, even a pro Russian family will end up a legitimate military target if they don’t help to overturn Ukrainian control over the city.
If you think Mariupol was a bloodbath, consider the potential of destruction in Zaporizhzhia Oblast to surpass it.
There’s one possible solution: partition the Oblast so the city and the north/west banks of the river becomes a natural border between Ukrainian North (Enerhodar in the south would be on the Russian side).
Problem: the separatists ruled it out. If the south becomes Russian, Russia takes the north too.
“Sham”? Look no further than the sham presidential election of 2020 if you want to see a “sham” election.