''UKRAINIANS WAR DISPLACED'' : VOTES

KIEV : War-displaced Ukrainians struggle to get their vote..........

NATLAYA Nikitchenko was forced to flee the war in eastern Ukraine now, like more than a million others, she is battling to get her vote in this month's  presidential election.

Sitting on the gloomy shared kitchen of a shelter in Kryvyi Rig, an industrial town in the centre of Ukraimne, Nikitchenko says she wants her voice to count. But the process of registering in a new district despite the lack of information from local authorities may deny her and others their say in the March 31 poll.

Just four percent of those forced to flee their homes have so far managed to to register, NGO's say.

That means Ukraine's most deprived people risk lying stripped of their vote in what opinion polls suggest is a far from ordinary race.

Actor Volodymyr Zelensky, whose only political experience is playing the role of president in a popular TV show, is currently favorite.

Incumbent Petro Poroshenko and ex prime minister Yullia Tymoshenko are projected second and third place respectively, amid public frustration with the political class
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'There's no hope for any big change. We, internal migrants, just want to be heard because our our situation now is very tough,'' Nikitchenko told AFP.

If she does register, the 37-year-old says she will vote for Tymoshensko as she believes the candidate would be the best placed to help her struggling family.

The honor and serving of that latest operational research on Votes and Voting, rules and systems, continues.