Ballot boxes for early voting sealed only at the top, but easily opened from the bottom

Members of the polling station election commissions refuse to give date to authorised representatives of democratic MP candidates and observers of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee.

By this article 65 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus and article 13 of the Election Code of the Republic of Belarus, according to which election must be open and transparent, are violated.

Violations of voting procedure have been noticed in Baranavichy since the first day of the early voting, Mikalai Severtsau, authorised representative of MP candidate of the United Civil Party Mikalai Charnavus, says:

“having come to the polling station #15 (secondary school #21) at 9.40 am today, on September 23, I saw a ballot box for early voting , sealed without observers, and two members of the commission watching it. Only the top of the box was sealed, the sides of the box are fixed with furniture fasteners, which are easily unfastened when it is necessary.”

Mikalai Severtsau offered the commission members to seal the box from the sides and bottom, but member of the commission Iryna Ivanyushkina refused to do it. As observers said earlier, fasteners are twisted off and the bottom is removed to replace ballots.

Ivanyushkina also refused to name the number of ballots, received from the district election commission, the campaign “Human Rights Activists for Free election” reports.

In view of Mikalai Severtsau and Mikalai Chyzhykau, BHC observer in the Baranavichy rural constituency 17, who can’t receive data about the number of ballots, this fact is a proof that election is undemocratic on the next-to-last stage.

As one can see, formation of district and polling station election commissions by the authorities with violation of the election legislation and refusal to include representatives of the democratic society in them, is fruitful.