Zhodzina election commission denies access to official documents

At the third meeting of the Zhodzina Election Commission, which was held on January 17, the election officials considered the question of reprimanding observer Aliaksei Lapitski.

The human rights activist was accused of “obstructing the work of the Commission” and “reporting false information to the media.”

Most of the commission members (11 people out of 12) approved the proposal to issue a warning.

Chairman Siarhei Afanasenkau said Lapitski would receive an extract from the minutes. However, after the meeting was over he refused to issue the document, calling the decision "an oral appeal to the observer’s attention."

In this connection, on January 20 Aliaksei Lapitski submitted a written request to the town election commission. On January 22, he received a reply, which implies that the meeting of the commission thus simply "drew his attention to the need for strict observance of the rights and duties of the observer under Par. 5 and 6 of Article 13 of the Electoral Code."

Thus, the Commission once again denied the observer’s right to see the official documents. According to Chairman of the Commission, the observer has “the right to examine only those documents by the Election Commission, which have already been published in the official press.” This position is shared by the CEC Chairman Lidziya Yarmoshyna, which she confirmed in her interview to the newspaper "Minskaya Prauda".