Kamchatka, Koryakia Escaped Separation by Inch
Over the 85-percent majority of the Kamchatka Region and Koryak Autonomous District voted yes October 23, 2005 in a referendum on their union as the Kamchatka Area. But the key intrigue was not the easily predicted result but rather the low activity of voters in Kamchatka, where attendance proved 20 percent lower than in Koryakia and only 2 percent above the required 50-percent minimum.
In Kamchatka, the required attendance of 52.03 percent was scarcely registered by 8:00 p.m., despite the lottery tickets given to the first 100,000 voters free of charge. Once the ceiling was attained, the local radio broadcasted the statement of Kamchatka’s Governor Mikhail Mashkovtsev confirming the referendum’s holding. The governor blamed the low attendance on weather conditions. “In time of the referendum, too good weather is as bad as the bad one. The people have failed to complete harvesting at their summer cottages, thinking, probably, they would have time to vote before 8:00 p.m., but never reaching the polling place as they returned too tied.”
The situation was different in Koryakia, where the referendum was acknowledged as held already by 2:00 p.m., local time, with around 54 percent of the residents voted by that hour. The overall attendance reached 76.71 percent. Koryak Governor Oleg Kozhemyako attributed such high attendance to good public spirit in the region. “For us, the union is an opportunity to integrate into a civilized society. Separated from it, we have high prices for tickets and goods and low temperatures practically all year running. So the union will enable us to make normal flights, get highly experienced medical treatment, higher education,” the governor specified.
by
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 24, 2005
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