Voter detained for eating ballot at polling station

In annexed Crimea, a local resident was detained for eating a ballot at a polling station. RIA Novosti reports this with reference to the chairman of the local election commission, Mikhail Malyshev.

According to him, the incident occurred on the last day of voting, March 17. The voter attracted the attention of the commission by being in the voting booth for more than five minutes. Then he “first tried to put either a ballot or some other paper into the voting box, and then not only tore the damaged ballot, but also ate it,” Malyshev said. He added that the man drew “certain signs” on the ballot, which “caused misunderstanding.”

The voter was detained by police. It is unknown what he is charged with.

Earlier, Kommersant, citing representatives of the Central Election Commission, reported that Vladimir Putin won 93.6% of the votes in the annexed Crimea. The turnout on the peninsula was 89.76%, which is more than 1.3 million people. In Sevastopol, the turnout was 81.79% - more than 288 thousand people. Thus, judging by the Central Election Commission, more people voted in the elections in Crimea than in the referendum in 2014.

Earlier, the Russian Central Election Commission reported a record turnout in the elections. According to the commission, 87.1 million Russians came to vote, that is, 77.44% of voters. Based on the results of checking 100% of the ballots, Putin received 87.28% of the votes, the Central Election Commission announced .

Novaya Gazeta Europe counted the ballots using the method of mathematician Sergei Shpilkin and concluded that Putin received about half the votes - at least 31.6 million - through fraud.

To receive the main news faster, subscribe to our telegram and Twitter .