MELITOPOL, September 26. /TASS/. International observer to the referendum in the Zaporozhye Region from Brazil, "Red Journal" columnist Enrique Dominguez noted the high level of organization of the vote and the absence of pressure on the local residents.
According to Dominguez, the observers have visited a large number of voting stations in three days.
"we saw how well the referendum was organized; the people working on this referendum are very well prepared and take this job very seriously," Dominguez told TASS.
The observer noted that he speaks Russian a little and he was able to talk to the locals who came to vote at the referendum.
"It is perfectly obvious for us, international observers, that these people do indeed want to vote, that they have been waiting for that for a long time," he said. "The process in general is going well; people come and go safely and freely. We see that the people do everything voluntarily, they are not being pressed."
People also told him that they expect that this vote will change their life to the better, Dominguez said.
When asked by TASS to comment on the Western states’ refusal to recognize the referendums in Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions, he said: "I think that this referendum is legitimate."
Other states should be concerned by expression of will in their own countries, he said, adding that it is a matter of sovereignty.
Dominguez noted that his colleagues and other Brazil reporters also observe the referendum.
"We see no guns, nobody is being forced, everything happens freely. So we want to tell about it when we come back to Brazil, and we plan to do so," Dominguez underscored.
Referendums on accession to Russia started Friday in Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, as well as in the Kherson Region and on liberated parts of the Zaporozhye Region. It will last through September 27.