Two observers are removed from polling station No. 2 in Babrujsk
Two independent observers were removed from polling station No. 2 in Babrujsk for asking questions that were unnerving the chairperson of the precinct election commission, Kseniya Laptseva.
The polling station is located in the Center of Leisure Time and Creativity, which is headed by Kseniya Laptseva.
“I was surprised with it”, comments the observer Liudmila Bayeva. “There is a good turnout at the polling station, and the PEC members have no reasons to be afraid of us. However, they have always demonstrated a biased attitude to us. Yesterday I asked several questions to the chairperson of the PEC, but she refused to answer saying she wasn't obliged to do it. That's why I repeated the questions in writing and passed them to her this morning. The commission kept silent until the midday... At 2 p.m. I came to the chairperson of the commission and asked to present me information about the number of persons who had voted, in order to compare it with my own calculations. Kseniya Laptseva got very nervous, said I was interfering with her work and she registered it as the second violation on my part.
By the way, the first “violation” was that the observer put her signature on the paper by which the ballot box was sealed, next to signatures of members of the election commission. Liudmila Bakayeva says she had done it during the previous elections, but during theese elections she was told that it was prohibited.
“Kseniya Latseva reminded me about all the questions I had asked, including the question where I would be put during the counting of the votes, and said that I was picking at her. My colleague said something like “we are observers, and were taught to pick at everyone”. This angered the chairperson of the commission and she removed us from the polling station,” said Liudmila Bayeva.
"Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections"