Aleh Vouchak: Only Right Thing to Do – No-Show of Voters

Those who are taking part in the large-scale electoral fraud are “electing” inflation, new taxes, wages reduction and Belarus’ participation in wars.

It was said by a lawyer, the head of the human rights centre “Legal Assistance to the Population” Aleh Vouchak in the interview to charter97.org.

- As a human rights watchdog, what could you say about violations of the Electoral Code on the stage of the early “voting”?

- Today is the second day of our monitoring of violations at the “elections” in Minsk. These two days could be called “voters hunting”.

One cannot walk down the street calmly: there are loudspeakers everywhere, they repeatedly invite to the “elections”. People in out-patient hospitals are complaining: they had come to visit a doctor, and loudspeakers were turned on – so that people got a scare, thinking military operations had started.

The same “mobilization” is going on in buses: people are complaining that one cannot have a relaxed ride in a bus: announcers are urging to participate in the “elections”. In different districts of Minsk 1.5 million postcards had been sent on behalf of Alyaksandr Lukashenka, for people to come and vote for “flourishing Belarus”. A forcible mobilization for early voting is going on, which is prohibited even by the electoral laws currently adopted in Belarus.

In the provinces people complain that they had received invitation cards for deceased relatives. And Minsk authorities have invented know-how: voter invitation cards are not intended for each person, but for the entire flat.

Everything is done to increase the scope of the fraud.

- What would you recommend to Belarusian citizens in order not to become participants of this fraud?

- I receive many phone calls: from my colleagues, lawyers, veterans of the war in Afghanistan, young families, teachers, pensioners. Everyone is asking: what should we do? I say: we have neither a choice nor “elections”. The fraud is so enormous that there is no point at turning out at the polling station. We should maintain our dignity and take no part in that.

Those who are going to go take part in the vote, will vote for inflation, new taxes, wages reduction, sending our children to regional wars in the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, for a worse life of their children. And one cannot justify oneself by some fears: those who are taking part in the “vote” are stealing the future from their children.

The only right thing to do today is stay away from the polling stations. If the turnout is less than 50%, the “elections” are considered invalid, and according to the Electoral Code it means that these four “candidates” do not have a right to run for presidency in the next elections.