Authorities Readying for Mass Falsification of Pre-Voting Results :: Charter'97 :: News

Official data on the preliminary voting’s turnout are quite deceitful. On Tuesday and Wednesday 7% voters already cast their votes (3,5% on the first day and 3,5% - on the second) rather than just 4%, as claimed by the Central Electoral Commission. These figures were publicized today by the “Independent Observation” initiative during their Minsk press-conference.

According to one of the “IO” coordinators Miroslav Kobasa, the CEC data are unreal, which can be proven by the fact that, as said by the CEC, on the first day only 2,3% of voters participated in the ballot, and 1,7% - on the second day. However, say the observers, during the second day of preliminary voting only 11% of polling stations recorded the decreased number of those, willing to vote. At the rest of them the number of voters was going uphill. But the CEC alleges that on the second day twice as little voters showed up at the polling stations as on the first day.

Mecheslav Grib, one of the coordinators of “Independent Observation” explains this concealment of turnout statistics by saying that the authorities are using the administrative resource, “intending to hold preliminary elections at some 30-40% of stations, then raise the figure to 50% and, in order to prevent the turmoil, report on the information on the very last day.” According to Mecheslav Grib, he learned this from the trustworthy and competent sources.

As for now, says Grib, the state unleashed the campaign on the falsification of the pre-voting results. From the same reliable sources the “IO” learned that the central electoral commissions have to first coordinate their data with the district and city councils and announce them only after that.

As stressed by the press-conference participants, “the authorities do everything in order to hinder independent observation, although we strictly comply with the law.”