Authorities raised early voting turnout to 23.1%
27- 19.12.2010, 9:42
Taking into account that those who vote early are supposed to be outside the country on the election day, 1,629,191 voters have recently left Belarus.
As BelaPAN learnt from the Central Election Commission, 1.629, 191 voters, or 23.1% people on electoral registers, visited polling stations during the early voting at the Belarusian presidential election.
The most active was the Vitsebsk region with a turnout of 34.6% followed by the Brest region with 18.8%, the Homel region with 24.1%, the Hrodna region with 23.4%, the Minsk region with 20.4%, the Mahilou region with 26.4%, and Minsk with 17.7%.
The turnout at polling stations outside the country was 28.2%.
At the 2006 presidential election the early voting turnout was 31.3%/.
We remind that such a big rate of early voting evokes suspicion of observers.
According to Sergey Alfer, an expert in electoral rights, most European countries practice early voting. But the turnout is high only in the countries where people can vote by mail, including e-mail. “The postal voting turnout may reach as far as 10-20%, because it’s convinient,” the expert explained.
In the countries where voters have to go to polling stations, the rate of advance voting is usually 1-2%, maximum 5%. “If early voting turnout is higher than two per cent, it raises question,” Alfer noted.
