OTTAWA — Canada alongside four allied countries rejected Russia’s parliamentary elections in occupied regions of Ukraine on Monday, calling the voting a “gross violation” of Ukrainian sovereignty.Canada joined Australia, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom in condemning elections held in Crimea and other partially occupied regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.“These sham elections are part of a wider system of occupation: the imposition of Russian administration, law, media, education, language and citizenship, backed by coercion and repression,these regions are part of Ukraine and holding sham elections cannot alter the status of these territories under international law,” the countries said in a joint statement released by Global Affairs Canada.Russia included occupied Ukrainian territory in its first State Duma election since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022.Moscow claims the five occupied regions as Russian territory, despite lacking full control of four of them. Ukraine and its allies reject the annexations as illegal..Canada called on other countries to reject Russia’s attempt to normalize the occupation and demanded accountability for officials involved in the voting process.“Borders must never be redrawn by force,” the statement said.The countries also demanded that Russia end its invasion and accept a “full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire.”Preliminary results released Monday showed President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party securing its strongest parliamentary result on record.With more than 95% of ballots counted, United Russia received 57.83% of the party-list vote, according to Russia’s Central Election Commission. The party was projected to hold 355 of the 450 seats in the State Duma, giving it a large constitutional majority.Russia reported turnout of approximately 59% during three days of voting from Friday through Sunday.Most prominent opponents of Putin and the invasion were barred from running, imprisoned, driven into exile or otherwise excluded from political activity.The Canadian-led statement did not recognize the reported results from occupied Ukrainian territories.“Holding Russia’s State Duma elections in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine … is a gross violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence, and the UN Charter,” the allies said.
