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Zaporozhye Region expects high turnout at referendum on accession to Russia

At the moment, the issues relating to the transparency of the forthcoming vote and security for people who will take part in the referendum are being worked on

MELITOPOL, August 9. /TASS/. The voter turnout at a referendum on joining Russia will be quite high in the Zaporozhye Region, said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the region’s military-civilian administration.

"I am confident that there will be quite a high turnout as people will decide their own future, and they have a clear vision of the risks and threats being posed by [Ukraine]," Rogov told TASS.

The regional authorities are currently working on issues relating to the transparency of the forthcoming vote and security for people who will take part in the referendum, he specified.

Rogov said the referendum was a long-awaited event, and the region which he said was being liberated "with bloodshed, pain, and suffering" had been waiting for the plebiscite for eight years longer than Crimea.

On Monday, the head of the Zaporozhye Region, Yevgeny Balitsky, announced that he had signed an order to hold a referendum on accession to Russia. So far, some 72-73% of the region’s territory has been liberated. Zaporozhye, the regional capital that’s home to about half of the region’s population, is still controlled by Ukrainian forces.

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