Sham Expression of Popular Will

Aggressors may organize sham electoral procedures (referendums, elections) under conditions of occupation, absence of freedom of speech, and military pressure. The imitation of democratic processes allows the colonizer to formally legalize the regime or the annexation process, ensuring the legal and political consolidation of control over the territory in the eyes of its own society and the world community.

ID: T0109
Sub-techniques:  No sub-techniques
Tactic: Persistence
People: Ukrainians
Version: 1.0
Created: 21 April 2026
Last Modified: 21 April 2026

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
C0081 Annexation and Sovietization of Western Ukraine (1939–1941)

Organization of fake, no-alternative "People's Assemblies" under the control of occupation troops to give the seizure a legal form[1].

C0100 Beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War: Armed Invasion and Occupation of Crimea (2014)

Holding a sham referendum on March 16, 2014, under conditions of military occupation ("at gunpoint") to legitimize the severance of the territory[1].

C0103 Full-Scale Invasion (from February 24, 2022)

The holding in the fall of 2022 of fictitious 'referendums' conducted under armed force in the occupied territories of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts to create a pseudo-legal pretext for their annexation[2].

S0008 Government

Holding of the All-Union referendum with an artificially convoluted question on the preservation of a renewed USSR in order to legitimize imperial control and coerce the republics into signing a new union treaty[3].

C0093 Manipulative Referendum on the Preservation of the USSR (March 1991)

Holding of the All-Union referendum with an artificially convoluted question on the preservation of a renewed USSR in order to legitimize imperial control and coerce the republics into signing a new union treaty[3].

C0012 Mazepa's Defection to Sweden and the Baturyn Massacre (1708)

Formalization of the occupation regime through sham democratic procedures. The starshyna, terrorized by the massacre, was forced to vote for the candidate favored by the metropole: "Under the circumstances that had arisen, the starshyna simply confirmed Skoropadsky, whom Peter had put forward"[4][5][6].

S0012 Occupation and Controlled Administrations

Organization of fake, no-alternative "People's Assemblies" under the control of occupation troops to give the seizure a legal form[1].

S0012 Occupation and Controlled Administrations

Holding a sham referendum on March 16, 2014, under conditions of military occupation ("at gunpoint") to legitimize the severance of the territory[1].

S0012 Occupation and Controlled Administrations

The holding in the fall of 2022 of fictitious 'referendums' conducted under armed force in the occupied territories of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts to create a pseudo-legal pretext for their annexation[2].

S0010 Regular Army

Formalization of the occupation regime through sham democratic procedures. The starshyna, terrorized by the massacre, was forced to vote for the candidate favored by the metropole: "Under the circumstances that had arisen, the starshyna simply confirmed Skoropadsky, whom Peter had put forward"[4][5][6].

G0011 Russian Federation

Holding a sham referendum on March 16, 2014, under conditions of military occupation ("at gunpoint") to legitimize the severance of the territory[1].

G0011 Russian Federation

The holding in the fall of 2022 of fictitious 'referendums' conducted under armed force in the occupied territories of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts to create a pseudo-legal pretext for their annexation[2].

G0008 Tsardom of Muscovy

Formalization of the occupation regime through sham democratic procedures. The starshyna, terrorized by the massacre, was forced to vote for the candidate favored by the metropole: "Under the circumstances that had arisen, the starshyna simply confirmed Skoropadsky, whom Peter had put forward"[4][5][6].

G0010 USSR

Organization of fake, no-alternative "People's Assemblies" under the control of occupation troops to give the seizure a legal form[1].

G0010 USSR

Holding of the All-Union referendum with an artificially convoluted question on the preservation of a renewed USSR in order to legitimize imperial control and coerce the republics into signing a new union treaty[3].

References

  1. Татьяна Таирова-Яковлева. (2007). Мазепа.
  2. Михаил Зыгарь. (2023). Война и наказание: Как Россия уничтожала Украину.
  3. Татьяна Таирова-Яковлева. (2011). ИВАН МАЗЕПА И РОССИЙСКАЯ ИМПЕРИЯ ИСТОРИЯ «ПРЕДАТЕЛЬСТВА».