Candidate Kastusyou hindered to meet with voters

After long debates, he was given three minutes to talk.

Deputy head of the State Control Committee and parliamentary candidate Alyaksandr Aheyeu met with voters at the cheese making shop “Babushkina Krynka” in Byalynichy today at 7:30 a.m. The alternative parliamentary candidate, BPF deputy chairman Ryhor Kastusyou, who learned about the meeting by chance, was not allowed to enter the enterprise, Viasna human rights centre reports.

“My election agent, BPF activist from Byalynichy Mikalai Myatelitsa,  told me Alyaksandr Aheyeu would have a meeting in the morning with voters at 'Babushkina Krynka' cheese making shop,” Ryhor Kastusyou says. “He received this information from workers, who were ordered to visit the meeting with the candidate at 7:30 a.m. September 11. We decided to take part in the meeting too and introduce our vision of the situation in the region and country to voters. Mikalai Myatelitsa and I came to the factory, but security guards didn't allow us to enter. Later Alyaksandr Aheyeu, representative of the election commission of Shklou constituency No. 90 and cheese making shop director Tamara Halyota appeared. They discussed something among them and didn't want us to visit the meeting. But we insisted and they had to surrender. The meeting didn't go smoothly. Alyaksandr Aheyeu spoke for a long time and left only three minutes to me. I used this time to tell people what I think about the 'election'. People reacted positively to my speech.”

Byalynichy-based businessman Mikalai Myatelitsa, an election agent for parliamentary candidate Ryhor Kastusyou, says he was surprised to see such a reaction of the administration to the alternative candidate.

“In my view, the cheese making shop administration acted ugly by not allowing Ryhor Kastusyou not meeting with voters. But the effect was contrary. People listened to two candidates and make their conclusions. Some people already told me Kastusyou had said the right words about the situation in the country and election.”