Babrujsk observers file complaints to prosecutor's office and CEC
Babrujsk observers of the campaign “Right to Elect” file resulting complaints to the TEC, prosecutor's office and CEC. The majority of the complaints concern the overestimation of the turnout and the impossibility to observe the vote counting.
“Observers didn't file complaints only at 4 out of the 22 precincts whose work I monitored. Today they will be filing 18 complaints that will concern the vote counting. Earlier, they also filed many complaints that were to have been considered the same day, but members of the commissions told they would answer in three days,” says the regional coordinator of the campaign “Right to Elect” Taisiya Kabanchuk.
Apart from the complaints, before the counting of votes the observers addressed members of the PECs with proposals to count the votes openly. In all cases, they received denials with references that the PECs were acting in conformity with the Belarusian legislation.
“We have already said much about the overestimation of the turnout, and in some precincts they reached 500-600 persons! Members of the commissions threw paper notes at one another, whispered to one another, and then there appeared these unrealistic numbers. The observers reflected it all in their complaints. Sviatlana Hrytsenka observed the elections at polling station No. 18. On the election day there came three “important men”, who started governing the process with the silent consent of the members of the election commission.
When Sviatlana asked who they were and who gave them the right to stay at the polling station, they said that they didn't need any nominations and behaved very confidently. Nevertheless, the observers managed to prevent their registration at the polling station. A complaint was filed regarding this incident,” said Taisiya Kabanchuk.
Another reason for complaints is the absence of the final protocols of voting at many polling stations. The appropriate numbers were just announced to the observers, after which they were told to go home.
“Observer Illia Rodau monitored the elections at polling station No. 86 and was shocked at the behavior of the commission members. They took three ballot boxes – for early voting, for voting on the election day and the portable ballot box for home voting – and mixed all ballots from them in one heap. After that they started to throw sheaves of ballots to one another. The observer could not understand what was going on, it looked like a madness. Naturally, he wasn't shown the final protocol. A complaint was filed on this incident, too,” adds the regional coordinator of “Right to Elect”
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