Experts: Citizens both can and have the right to boycott elections

Having ratified the CIS Convention on Democratic and Free Elections, Belarus had committed to implement it.

Valiantsin Stefanovich, Deputy Head of the HRC Viasna, stated that in his interview with Radio Svaboda.

- Like never before the idea of boycotting the elections is popular among democratic activists. But in recent years these elections will be the first, when a norm prohibiting boycott campaign works. How much does this norm comply to those promises made by Minsk?

- At the end of 2014 the Electoral Code made amendments, it was the first time since 2000 when calls for elections' boycott not in the day of the elections were subject to administrative punishment. There are different approaches to this issue in the world, in some countries calls for boycott are prohibited as well. But the main point is that last year Belarus joined the CIS Convention on Democratic and Free Elections. Experts of Human Right Activists for Free Elections campaign say that Article 9, paragraph 8 of the Convention gives the right to boycott elections, as well as to call for it. All the CIS countries ratified it do not have norms prohibiting it. Therefore, I think that Belarus is subject to its implementation.