Yarmoshyna: Observers to keep away from ballot boxes

The chairperson of the central Election Commission has stated that amendment which guarantees observers a possibility to observe votes count in immediate proximity, has been eliminated from the law as “subjective”.

Thus, the gate to rigging election results remains open.

“Authorities of observers are to be maintained in accordance with the earlier version: an observer has a right to monitor votes count. The words about such a condition that demands visibility of the vote count, have been eliminated as subjective,” BelaPAN quotes the words of Yarmoshyna. The chair of the Central Election Commission underlined that “any law is a product of compromise”.

“There is an opinion of those who organize the election. For instance, chairmen of precinct election commissions feel themselves less defended than observers. They demanded to introduce norms which offer wider powers for members and chairmen of precinct election commissions, so that their rights would be more defended. That is why a trade-off variant was chosen,” the CEC chair said.

Yarmoshyna has also informed that amendments to the electoral code offered to the “parliament” “include recommendations of the OSCE by 90%”.

In particular, she said that the OSCE offered to simplify the procedure of nominating candidates so that it would be alternative election. “Only a demand to exclude a stipulation about mandatory presence of the party structures in the precinct was discussed,” Yarmoshyna said. “We have come further: we facilitated the order of nomination of candidates through collection of signatures, decreased the number of reasons for which signatures could be recognized as invalid, which would decrease the number of denials for candidates’ registration”.

As said by the CEC head, many OSCE recommendations have been also taken into account when regulating peculiar properties of campaigning and signatures collection in Belarus.

Meanwhile, recently Belarusian opposition made a statement offering the EU to finance purchase of transparent ballot boxes for Belarus in the framework of “Eastern Partnership” program.

“I think that it is not a great sum for the EU, but it could become a considerable contribution in ensuring transparency of the electoral process,” the chairman of the United Civil party Anatol Lyabedzka said to udf.by website.

The politician noted that 10% of proposals not reflected in the amendments to the Electoral Code are most significant for the opposition, as they were to ensure civil control over the elections.

It is planned that the draft law is to be considered by the Chamber of representatives in the first reading on November 30, and in the second reading on December 10.