OSCE/ODIHR, Venice Commission: Electoral Code of Belarus Doesn’t Meet Standards

The "elections" are completely controlled by the authorities and the opposition candidates have no opportunity to express their views in the state media.

The representative of the Venice Commission Aivars Endzins stated this during his speech at an international round table on electoral standards and improvement of the electoral process in Belarus, Radio Svaboda reports.

In particular, he said that according to a joint document of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Venice Commission the electoral legislation and practice in Belarus do not meet democratic standards.

He noted that the representatives of OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission strongly criticize the practice of early voting. The representative of the Venice Commission explained that it’s not the mere existence of early voting that is criticized, but that there is actually no criteria to determine who is eligible to vote early. It should be either a disease, or some other objective reason, due to which a person cannot vote on the main day. There are no such criteria, which allows an extremely large number of people to participate in early voting, and it is impossible to control this process and evaluate its objectivity.

Besides, the ODIHR and the Venice Commission consider it wrong when half of the members (6 of 12) of the Central Election Commission, including the Chairman, are appointed by the President, and the candidates for the position of the Deputy Chairman and the Secretary are agreed with him.

According to the opinion of the ODIHR and the Venice Commission, a significant drawback of the electoral process in Belarus is that there is no a permanent list of voters, which must exist, be open and be updated at least once a year. It is also considered wrong that sometimes the registration of voters is carried out on the day of elections.

“There are many such drawbacks and the most important of them is the fact that the electoral process is fully controlled by the executive power, while the opposition candidates have no opportunity to express their views in the state mass media,” – Endzins said.

The Chairman of the Central Election Commission Lidziya Yarmoshina said during a break in the round table on electoral standards and improvement of the electoral process in Belarus, that the international observers from OSCE/ODIHR presented 30 amendments to the Central Election Commission, which they propose to introduce into the legislation. Adoption of 22 of them requires either engagement of the "parliament", or introduction of changes to the Constitution. Since it is impossible to do it before the elections, the CEC has decided to introduce the amendments to the law enforcement practice.

For this purpose, certain instructions will be issued and all members of the electoral commissions of all levels will be trained.

“If the members of the Commission thoroughly examine these documents, they will make no mistakes,” – Yarmoshina said.

When the journalists asked, whether it was possible to hold a referendum on electoral legislation, which requires changes in the Constitution, simultaneously with the election, Lidziya Yarmoshina answered: "There is no such initiative: I don’t know anything about it."