Decisive Ukraine polls marred by cancelled vote in key port

Western-backed Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's fragile ruling coalition faced a major survival test today in local elections that were instantly marred as voting was cancelled in the strategic port of Mariupol.
Polling stations opened across all Kiev-administered regions accept for Mariupol -- a southeastern city of nearly 500,000 that provides a land bridge between pro-Moscow rebel regions and Ukraine's Russian-annexed Crimea peninsula.
A statement from Poroshenko's Solidarity party said the polls "were aborted... Due to the improper preparation of election ballots, the absence of control over their printing and number, and reliable storage."
Poroshenko's party said it still hoped to conduct mayoral and regional council votes in the city in the coming weeks.

But the locals were angry and blamed the pro-Western authorities in Kiev for the abrupt disruption.
"It seem that someone wants the city to remain rudderless and without proper authorities," said 90-year-old Olena Kholodenko after being turned away at the polling station door.

The combative elections come during a lull in fighting and with worries growing that Ukraine is slipping off the global radar despite just turning into Europe's second-poorest country and still standing as a bulwark against Russia's feared expansion west.
But politicians in Ukraine were most concerned about what happens in Mariupol -- a vital outlet for the east's industrial output that had militias stationed on its northeastern outskirts throughout most of the war.

The devastated city came under a January 24 mortar and rocket attack monitors blamed on the insurgents that killed 31 civilians and wounded more than 100.