烏克蘭親俄叛軍在控制地區舉行選舉

DONETSK, Ukraine — The campaign billboards in this city suggested a tight race between Aleksandr Zakharchenko and Aleksandr Zakharchenko.

烏克蘭頓涅茨克——從這座城市的競選廣告牌來看，亞歷山大·扎哈爾琴科(Aleksandr Zakharchenko)與亞歷山大·扎哈爾琴科(Aleksandr Zakharchenko)勢均力敵。

As voters in rebel-held areas of Ukraine went to the polls on Sunday, in defiance of the central government, the European Union and the United States, the only visible campaign advertising in Donetsk was in support of the current separatist leader, Mr. Zakharchenko, who is, not surprisingly, expected to win.

週日，被叛亂分子控制的烏克蘭地區的選民無視中央政府、歐盟及美國，前往投票站投票，頓涅茨克地區唯一可見的競選廣告是支持現在的分裂派領導人扎哈爾琴科的廣告，不出意外的話，他將贏得選舉。

Rather than offering a range of plausible opposition candidates, the voting for members of Parliament and heads of state in Donetsk and the other breakaway region of eastern Ukraine, Luhansk, was significant for highlighting Ukraine's loss of control over these territories, and Russia's strengthening influence.

在頓涅茨克及烏克蘭東部另一個分裂地區——盧甘斯克的議會成員國家首腦的選舉中，看不到各色反對派候選人，它的意義在於突顯出烏克蘭已經失去對這些地區的控制，俄羅斯的影響力不斷加強。

The elections will likely cement the status quo for Luhansk and Donetsk, which have been controlled in large part by pro-Russian separatists since the spring. Russia has said it will recognize the results, while Ukraine, along with European governments and the United States, has said it will not, maintaining that the elections violated a cease-fire agreement signed in Minsk in September.

選舉活動可能會鞏固盧甘斯克和頓涅茨克的現狀，自今年春天以來，這些地區在很大程度上處於親俄分裂分子的控制下。俄羅斯曾表示將承認選舉結果，而烏克蘭、歐盟政府及美國則表示，他們不會承認結果，堅稱選舉活動違反了今年9月在明斯克簽署的停火協議。

The cease-fire, which has been unraveling in daily shooting along the front lines, called for local elections to take place under Ukrainian law, and Kiev has scheduled city and village votes for Dec. 7. However, rebel leaders say they have no intention of allowing them to take place in Donetsk and Luhansk, and scheduled their vote for Sunday instead.

停火協議要求地方根據烏克蘭法律開展選舉活動，但前線每天都會出現開槍的情況，該協議已被瓦解，基輔將城市及村莊的投票時間定在12月7日。但叛軍領袖表示，他們不打算在頓涅茨克和盧甘斯克舉行上述投票活動，並將他們的投票時間定在週日。

"We hope that it will be a free declaration of will and that nobody will try to ruin it from the outside," Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov of Russia told the Russian newspaper Izvestia.

俄羅斯外長謝爾蓋·V·拉夫羅夫(Sergey V. Lavrov)告訴俄羅斯《消息報》(Izvestia)，“我們希望，這是自由意志的展示，沒人會試圖從外部毀掉它。”

Western governments, including Germany and France, have called on Russia to refrain from recognizing the rebel votes. Secretary of State John Kerry called the elections a "clear violation" of the Minsk agreement.

包括德國及法國在內的西方政府曾呼籲俄羅斯不要承認叛亂分子的投票結果。美國國務卿約翰·克里(John Kerry)稱這些選舉活動“明顯違反”了明斯克停火協議。

Rebel election officials said about half a million people had voted by midafternoon in Donetsk, amid rising military tensions. The Ukrainian military said Sunday that Russia had in recent days bolstered equipment supplies to separatists. On Saturday, a column of 62 military trucks, including several carrying rocket launchers, drove through Donetsk.

反叛團體選舉官員表示，在軍事緊張局勢加劇的情況下，截至下午三點，頓涅茨克已有大約50萬民衆投票。烏克蘭軍方在週日表示，俄羅斯近日增加了對分裂分子的裝備供給。週六，62輛軍用卡車開過了頓涅茨克，其中幾輛車運載着火箭發射器。

Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly last week for the pro-European political parties led by President Petro O. Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk; the separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk did not take part in those elections and scheduled their own.

上週，烏克蘭人投票支持由總統彼得羅·O·波羅申科(Petro O. Poroshenko)和總理阿爾謝尼·P·亞採紐克(Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk)領導的親西方政黨，使其獲得了壓倒性的票數；頓涅茨克和盧甘斯克的分裂分子沒有參與此次投票，自己設定了投票時間。

In an effort to draw voters to an election lacking suspense — as the existing rebel leaders, including Mr. Zakharchenko, a former electrician, seem sure to stay on — polling stations opened Sunday in Donetsk schools with gigantic piles of cabbage, potatoes, carrots, beets and onions in the yards outside; at one site, the vegetables were sold at far below market price. At other sites organizers gave the vegetables away. Several polling stations offered live entertainment, ranging from a three-member Slavic folk band to a man playing an accordion.

包括電工出身的扎哈爾琴科在內的現有反叛團體領導人看起來肯定能留任，爲了吸引選民參加這場沒有懸念的選舉活動，分裂分子週日在頓涅茨克的學校開設投票站，學校外的院子裏放置了成堆的捲心菜、馬鈴薯、胡蘿蔔、甜菜及洋蔥；在其中一個投票現場，蔬菜的售價遠低於市場價格。在另一個投票現場，組織者乾脆發放蔬菜。還有幾個投票站提供現場演出，三人斯拉夫民歌樂隊和一名拉手風琴的男子等演出人員參加了演出。

In a practice common in authoritarian post-Soviet countries, one candidate in Donetsk endorsed his opponent, Mr. Zakharchenko, in the race. In a 2012 presidential race in Turkmenistan, for example, nominally competing candidates gave speeches standing in front of giant posters of the incumbent, who won.

在頓涅茨克，一名候選人在競選期間公開支持其競爭對手，這種做法在威權統治的前蘇聯國家很普遍。比如，在2012年土庫曼斯坦總統大選中，名義上相互競爭的候選人，站在獲勝的現任的巨幅海報前面發表演講。

"We don't have any differences, none at all," Yuri V. Sivokonenko, the head of a police union and candidate for head of state, said in an interview. "I didn't ask people to vote for me, because I don't have any differences in principle with Zakharchenko."

“我們沒有任何分歧，完全沒有，”政府首腦候選人、警察工會領導人尤里·V·西沃科年科(Yuri V. Sivokonenko)在接受採訪時說。“我沒有讓人們給我投票，因爲在原則上，我和扎哈爾琴科沒有任何不同。”

Mr. Sivokonenko said he had put up no campaign advertising because he lacked funds for it. A deputy speaker of the Parliament of Novorossia, Aleksandr Kofman, was also on the ballot but ran a low-profile campaign. No candidates ran in open opposition to the current rebel leadership. The overriding goal of the election, Mr. Sivokonenko said, was to boost the legitimacy of the separatists' state. "By the end of the day, the Donetsk People's Republic will have a new status," he said. "The election confirms our status as a state."

西沃科年科表示由於缺乏資金，自己沒有投放競選廣告。“新俄羅斯”(Novorossia)議會副議長亞歷山大·科夫曼(Aleksandr Kofman)也是候選人之一，但其競選活動頗爲低調。沒有候選人公開與現任反政府武裝領導人唱反調。西沃科年科稱此次選舉的首要目標，是鞏固分裂分子政權的合法性。“到今天結束的時候，頓涅茨克人民共和國將獲得一個新的身份，”他說。“選舉將確認我們作爲一個國家的身份。”

Long lines formed at polling stations in Donetsk. No voter lists existed, raising the risk of duplicate voting. The Donetsk People's Republic accepted ballots sent by email if voters attached a scanned copy of a passport.

頓涅茨克的投票站排起了長隊。沒有選民名單，這帶來了重複投票的風險。如果選民附上了護照的掃描件，頓涅茨克人民共和國也接受通過電子郵件發送的選票。

Aleksandr A. Prokhanov, the editor in chief of the Russian nationalist newspaper Zavtra, who has advised separatist field commanders including Mr. Zakharchenko on ideological questions, said in an interview over the weekend that the Donetsk People's Republic would not be bound by rigid Western ideas of democracy.

俄羅斯民族主義報紙《明天》(Zavtra)總編輯亞歷山大·普羅科·漢諾夫(Aleksandr A. Prokhanov)會爲扎哈爾琴科等分裂主義戰地指揮官提供意識形態問題方面的諮詢，他在週末接受採訪時稱，頓涅茨克人民共和國不會受死板的西方民主思想的限制。

"There are elections when you choose between A and B, and then there are the more difficult ones when you choose between A and A," he said. "You are a liberal, so you do not understand this. In the Russian consciousness, you can choose between A and A and A, and choosing between an infinite number of A's is true freedom."

“有些選舉需要在在A和B之間選擇，也有更難的選舉，要在A和A之間做出選擇，”他說。“你是自由派，所以你不明白。在俄羅斯的觀念體系中，你可以在三個A之間選擇。在無數個A中選擇是真正的自由。”