Monitors say elections in two Eastern Ukraine cities held properly

Monitors say elections in two Eastern Ukraine cities held properly

The European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO) said on November 30 that high voter turnout in the two cities indicated the population's engagement in political developments. Ukraine's Central Election Commission says voter turnout was 34.6 percent in Mariupol and 34.5 percent in Krasnoarmiisk.  The two cities, which both are in government-held territory of eastern Ukraine's turbulent Donetsk region, were supposed to conduct local elections in October. But polling stations did not open there during the October vote because of disputes over ballots. Much of the Donetsk region and the neighboring Luhansk region are controlled by Russia-backed separatists. Self-styled separatist leaders have agreed to postpone their own elections until sometime in 2016.