99.45% of district election commissions formed without opposition members

District election commissions in their present composition are unable to guarantee an honest vote counting procedure.

Vital Rymasheuski, a co-head of the organising committee to create Belarusian Christian Democracy party, said it at a press conference organised by the initiative Right to Election 2015 on August 31, BelaPAN reports.

The initiative unites eight organisations: the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada), the organising committee to create Belarusian Christian Democracy party, Tell the Truth campaign, For Freedom movement, the BPF Party, the Green Belarusian Party, the Electronics Trade Union, the organising committee to form the Freedom and Progress Party.

“One of the most important stages of the election observation process – the formation of district election commissions – has been completed,” Rymasheuski said. “All frauds take place during the formation of district election commissions. It is commissions that control how people really vote. In the conditions when observers are not allowed to come close to tables, the presence of opposition representatives in commissions is the only opportunity to check the validity of voting.”

Rymasheuski stressed that the percentage of democratic forces representatives in district election commissions was “as low as never before”. “The amendments to the Electoral Code that took force in 2013 failed to prevent the unequal access to election commissions for political forces,” he said.

Rymasheuski emphasised the fact that the formed district election commissions were “under total control of the authorities”. “Most people in commissions are members of BRSM and Belaya Rus [pro-presidential organisations]. These are pro-governmental organisations that are in fact integrated into the authorities. The authorities and the current head of state, who is also a candidate, control the vote counting procedure, which means unequal conditions for other candidates,” Rymasheuski said.

Ales Siukou, a coordinator of the Right to Elect 201 initiative, noted that 99.45% of district election commissions would work without opposition representatives. According to him, only 21 members of the Belarusian Left Party Fair World, three members of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada), four members of the United Civil Party, two members of the BPF Party and one member of the BPF Revival were included in election commissions. The total number of district election commission members is more than 66,000 people.

The initiative's coordinator Dzianis Sadouski said the restricted access to district election commissions for opposition members meant that the authorities were preparing frauds with the voter turnout and the vote counting procedure. “Political parties are being removed from the observation process,” he said.

According to Sadouski, the initiative Right to Elect 2015 will propose the maximum number of observers that will work at more than 1,000 polling stations across the country.