Simferopol, March 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The proposed referendum on the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has been moved from March 30 to March 16.
The Crimean Supreme Council passed a resolution today on the holding of the Crimean referendum in Sevastopol, the press centre of the Crimean parliament reported.
According to the document, the referendum ballot paper will contain two questions:
1. Do you support Crimea’s reunification with Russia?
2. Do you support the restoration of the Constitution of the Crimean Republic dated 1992 and Crimea’s status as a part of Ukraine?
The question which gets most votes will be seen as a direct expression of the will of the population of Crimea, the document reads.
The Crimean Parliament also presented the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and the Federal Assembly of the State Duma of the Russian Federation with a proposal to initiate the procedure of Crimea’s joining Russia as a subject of the Russian Federation.
It seems rather obvious that moving this illegal election sooner is another step in Putin’s puppet democracy. The Parliament does not officially have power to do this, but the peninsula is still in effect under Russian control. The plan is to put to a referendum what members of Crimea’s regional parliament have already decided for everyone – to make Crimea part of Russia, and on March 16 the majority of the Russian-speaking population is expected to approve it. An advisor to the Russian government has told the BBC the Kremlin is unlikely to stand in the way of a referendum. (BBC)
Holding referendum in Crimea is illegal, says Ukraine’s Justice Ministry
Kyiv, March 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The resolution of the Supreme Council of Crimea to hold a referendum in the autonomous republic is illegal, Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko has said.
“The issue of a referendum is illegal, as the issues of changing the status of Crimea is not subject to review by local referendums – it is a matter for a nationwide referendum,” he told journalists in Kyiv on Thursday.
RELATED INFORMATION:
Ukrainian leader declares Crimea referendum illegal farce:
http://news.yahoo.com/ukrainian-leader-declares-crimea-referendum-illegal-farce-171830832.html
Related sources:
Ukraine’s Crimea to Hold Referendum on Joining Russia: Prior Descriptions of Vote Had Centered on Issues of Autonomy
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304554004579422624182460570?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304554004579422624182460570.html
Voices of Ukraine 
Reblogged this on rovitothis201 and commented:
It’s better to solve this problem with votes instead of bullets. But will the elections be free and fair? Should it be a national instead of a local referendum, as Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko pointed out? Who will monitor the elections? (If the EU went in, then Russia would be aggravated, but if Russia went in, the ballots would be stuffed. Perhaps Norway – in the EEA, but not EU – or Botswana – with a track record of strong democracy – would be ideal candidates for voting supervision.