Two members of Kozulin`s party in Brest region complain to prosecutor`s offices about flawed election :: Charter'97 :: News

Two activists of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party "Hramada" (BSDP), who were on the ballot in a recent election for the Brest City Soviet, have complained to district prosecutor`s offices about irregularities reported at polling stations on January 14.

Igor Maslovsky, leader of the party`s chapter in the Brest region, has accused poll workers in several precincts of denying his campaign aides and observers access to early voting data and general voting results. "Copies of vote count records were not available at any polling station," the activist says in his complaint to the Leninsky District Prosecutor`s Office.
Apart from this, he points to the presence of police officers at all polling stations in the district where he ran for the city soviet.

As Mr. Maslovsky told BelaPAN, similar irregularities have been reported by the team of fellow BSDP member Grigory Panfyorov, who has filed a complaint with the Moskovsky District Prosecutor`s Office.

"Apart from this, I requested the Brest city election commission on January 15 to annul the results of the vote," the politician said.

Thirteen members of the BSDP, which is led by imprisoned former presidential candidate Aleksandr Kozulin, ran in the local elections in the region. Nine were on the ballot in the election for the Brest City Soviet, three vied for a seat on the Brest Regional Soviet and one ran for the Ivanovo District Soviet. None of them was elected.

Thirty-four members of pro-government Communist Party, one member of opposition Party of Communists win seats in local soviets in Brest region

As many as 34 members of the Communist Party of Belarus (CPB) and one member of the Belarusian Party of Communists (BPC) won seats in local soviets in the Brest region, Aleksandr Koleda, chairman of the Brest regional election commission, told BelaPAN.
According to him, none of the 28 candidates of the Belarusian Popular Front, 13 candidates of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada) and five candidates of the United Civic Party were elected.

A total of 1,416 women won seats in local soviets, accounting for 39.7 percent of all elected soviet members, said Mr. Koleda.

The agricultural sector`s employees accounted for 29.2 percent of all elected members, educators for 16.7 percent and employees of the industrial, transport and construction sectors for 16.1 percent.

As Mr. Koleda said, no soviet members were elected in five districts, as each of them had only one candidate on the ballot who failed to gain more than 50 percent of the vote. In particular, those districts were to elect members to the Kamenets and Lyakhovichi District Soviets, the Vysokoye City Soviet, the Ryasno Village Soviet in the Kamenets district and the Znamenka Village Soviets in the Brest district.

There were 109 such electoral districts in the previous local elections held in 2003.

According to Mr. Koleda, a total of 3,658 soviet members were elected and all of the 255 local soviets were formed in the region in these past local elections.

As many as 80.5 percent of all eligible voters reportedly took part in the elections compared with 77 percent in 2003.

The highest voter turnouts were in the Brest, Baranovichi, Drogichin, Lyakhovichi, Pinsk and Gantsevichi districts, where more than 90 percent of all eligible voters cast their ballots, Mr. Koleda said.