SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine
Hardly any Crimean Tatars have cast ballots Sunday morning in Crimea's controversial referendum on whether the region should join Russia or stay as part of Ukraine.
An Anadolu Agency correspondent reported that almost no Crimean Tatars went to the polling center in the regional capital Simferopol's Crimean Tatar-majority Chistinkaya district.
The poll head Ala Fedorova said less than a handful of Crimean Tatars had appeared to cast ballots and those who voted had been Russians and Ukrainians.
Meanwhile, the Election Board announced that 623 foreign journalists were accredited to follow the referendum. The vote is being watched by 135 observers from 23 countries, the statement said.
The referendum, which was condemned as 'illegal' by Ukraine and the West, asks voters whether they would like Crimea to join Russia or return to the Crimean Constitution of 1992, which stipulated that the peninsula would remain an autonomous part of Ukraine.
Crimean Tatars announced that they would boycott the vote.
The voting will end at 18:00 GMT, with official results expected to be announced Monday.
Crimea's regional parliament earlier announced that if the referendum indicates Crimea is in favor of leaving Ukraine then the region will be declared an independent and autonomous republic.
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