Early voting in Belarus beats records of 2006

The Central Election Commission (CEC) ignores observers’ complaints at enforced early voting.

About 12% of the voters on electoral registers have taken part in early voting in Belarus during three days, Interfax-Zapad news agency learnt from CEC spokesman Mikalai Lazavik.

“11.7% of the voters, or 820,000 people, went to polls during three days of early voting,” Lazavik said.

He specified that the turnout in the Brest region was 10%, in the Vitsebsk region – over 15%, in Homel region – 10.6%, in Hrodna region – 13.7%, in Minsk region – 10.6%, in Mahilou region – 14.3%, in Minsk – 9%.

According to the CEC spokesman, “There were no significant complaints at the electoral process during the early voting. We have only a few complaints from internal observers. As a rule, these complaints are not based on legislative requirements. These complaints evoke from interpretation of the norms of the law in one’s own way and expecting the same interpretation from election commissions.”

We remind that the early voting in Belarus is enforced. According to human rights activists, students, employees of state-run enterprises, and soldiers are forced to early voting. The reason is that it’s easier to falsify early voting results.