Aliaksandr Shchamliou: not a deputy anymore

Aliaksandr Shchamliou, a member of the Movement “For Freedom” in the Vitsebsk region, says he won the majority of votes in the elections to the Dabeya Village Council. This was written in the final minutes of vote count on 23 March. But five days later he saw another protocol, according to which he lost to his rival, head teacher of a school in the village of Ambrosavichy.

On March 23, Aliaksandr Shchamliou was not allowed to take pictures of the final minutes, and he copied the data by hand:

“Today, I realize this is not proof of my victory. According to the data of March 23, 27 people voted for me, and today’s protocol says there are only 12. How could votes be counted for this? There are fifty voters in the neighborhood, all in sight! Still, the numbers in the report have changed – to the point that it turns out that the number of voters increased! And where did the 19 invalid ballots come from, although on March 23 there were none!”

According to the former candidate, the arithmetic is as follows: on March 23, it was recorded that 47 people voted, 18 voted early and 29 – on election day. Out of 18 early votes, 10 ballots are for Shchamliou, 8 – for his rival. Nobody voted at home. The general calculations of the evening of March 23 say that 4 people voted against all, 27 – for Shchamliou, 13 – for the head teacher, and 3 ballots were found invalid.

However, the protocol, which Mr. Shchamliou saw on March 28, says that 49 voters received ballots. Of them only 12 people voted for the opposition candidate, with his rival winning 13 votes. Now 5 people, instead of 4, voted against all. And 19 ballots were now recognized invalid, although during the first count there were only 3.

Aliaksandr Shchamliou is very indignant. He is considering the following steps. For example, he is willing to talk to all of the voters in the constituency and ask who voted for him. The activist is ready to file complaints against the election officials as well.

“Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”