Minsk: commissions manipulate the turnout indicators
According to an election
observer Pavel Dabravolski, precinct election commission No.53 in Minsk overstates the
turnout. Dwellers of four dormitories of Minsk Pedagogic
University are registered
there. According to the commission, 630 people voted, whereas the observer
counted only 570. Only 3 of them weren’t students.
’A policeman stayed at the precinct for the night. The ballot box is plumbed in
a way that even a six-year-old child could remove the plumb and put it back if
necessary,’ said the observer.
The students who came to the precinct said that nobody forced them to vote
early, but they were provided with vacations till Monday for voting ahead of
time.
The commission Chairperson, Vasil Stadolnik, told the observer that about 1,500
blank ballot papers remained at the disposal of the commission, but refused to
tell the exact number.
Meanwhile, it’s not the only case when such ‘differences’ are registered. As
stated by Yury Meliashkevich, an electioneering agent of Aliaksei Mikhalevich,
the voting at precinct No.104 in the Maskouski district of Minsk was observed
for the whole day on 15 December. Observer Dzianis Mazur observed the voting
there till afternoon and counted 9 votes. The commission member representing
the BPF Party, Iryna Smiayan-Semianiuk, was present there from the afternoon
till evening, and counted 18 votes. Therefore, the total number of votes on 15
December was 27, whereas the commission stated that it was 37!
The chairperson of the commission ignored the fact that the voters were counted
and that the addresses and surnames of the people who voted early became known
thanks to the presence of Yury Meliashkevich.
As stated by Mrs. Smiayan-Semianiuk, such differences in numbers shed light on
the conflict that had occurred in this commission some time ago. The commission
chairperson stubbornly refused to let her sign the reverse side of all ballot
papers that were at the disposal of the precinct commission. Only 100 ballots
were signed by members of the commission (including Iryna) at the beginning of
the first day of early voting.
As it follows from the following events, it was not a mere coincidence, and the
results of the polling at this precinct can be put to doubt already.
The observer and the commission member composed the appropriate acts concerning
the discovered violations of the law and filed them with higher commissions,
the procuracy and the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission.
Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections
