36 “Right For Choice” Campaign Observers Expelled From Polling Stations

During the period of monitoring the elections, 36 observers of Right For Choice” campaign were expelled, and many of them — at the stage of vote counting.

Dzianis Sadouski, a campaign coordinator reported about that on October 12, according to the results of monitoring, informs BelaPAN.

Our observers faced many obstacles in their work and in fact had no chance to fulfill the monitoring at full range”, — he added.

Ales Silkou, another coordinator of the campaign, stated that most of the observers, who had been moved away, had demanded open vote counting. “They immediately erxpelled that observer without even conducting a meeting, – he said. – Assuming there was no open vote counting, we state that the electoral system of Belarus once again demonstrated absence of readiness for free, open voting.

As said by a co-chairman of the organising committee for creation of the Belarusian Christian Democratic Party Vital Rymasheuski, in the electoral campaign-2015 new rigging techniques were used. “They include carousel voting, when people were moving form one polling station to another, and chairpersons of commissions gave them ballot papers, and they stuffed those ballot papers at different polling stations,” he stressed.

Besides, Rymasheuski added, in the current elections campaign “an alternative pro-governmental network of observers” emerged. “In fact, they just rubberstamped the protocols prepared in advance, they were churning out complaints at our observers for alleged violations of the law, and on the other hand, they also signed documents that the elections were fair and just. They had one more objective – influence and manipulate the OSCE observers,” he said.

8 organisations are members of “The Right For Choice – 2015” observation campaign: the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada), the organizing committee for creation of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, “Tell the Truth” campaign, “For Freedom” movement, the Belarusian Popular Front party, the Belarusian Green Party, the Belarusian trade Union of Workers of Radio and Electronic Industry and the organizing committee of the Freedom and Progress Party. They carried out observation at 642 polling stations.