Oppositionists in election commissions signed almost all protocols
They maintain that at their stage nothing could be resolved. At the station commission where something could have allegedly been done, worked just several opposition more that at constituency commissions. During the recent polls, 42 opposition members (around 3 percent of the total number of members of 110 election commissions) made it to the district election commissions. This was allegedly to prove the "democratic" nature of the election. However, almost all opposition representatives signed the final election protocols.
“What could I do?" Lyudmila Denisenka complained to the European Radio for Belarus. She was a member of the district commission in the Brest region, representing the opposition Party of Communists.
Lyudmila Denisenka: “The district commission is a place where you sit just to receive documents. We have the town of Zhabinka and the Zhabinka district and the town of Malaryta and the Malaryta district... Two commission members would travel there, receive the ballot papers at the district administration and bring them over. But I can't say anything about how the ballots were received ot sorted”.
Lyudmila Denisenka reckons that people should not have been sent to district election commissions. Yauhen Lemesh, another oppposition members of the district commission in Minsk from the United Civic Party, agrees with her:
“If one opposition member is part of the district commission not at the polling station, nothing can be talked about here. Constituency commissions work exclusively as statists. They count the protocols received. Major problems arise at the polling stations”.
Nothing will change as long as opposition members are not part of commissions at polling stations, says Yauhen Lemesh.
At the polling stations where at least opposition observes was present, the results of the election differed radically from the rest of the polling stations, Lyudmila Denisenka told the European Radio for Belarus:
“Our candidate Anatol Novik was running in this constituency. I checked that wherever our observers were present, he had 30 percent of votes. At the other stations where we had no observers, there would be 10 people for Novik and 150 votes for a pro-government candidate, for example...”.
According to Lyudmila Denisenka, the same picture was with the advance voting as well:
“We made a comparison study. During the advance voting, Novik picked 10 percent, while Fedaruk got 90 percent. On the polling day, they had an approximately equal number of votes...”.
Even at the polling stations where opposition observers were present, they were not allowed to get access to the vote count, Lyudmila Denisenka complains:
“Our observers sat at the polling stations and wrote statements that they had not been allowed to monitor the vote count. They sat at a distance of 10 meters. At the ordinary polling stations, they stood nearby but what could be counted if out of 300 people 200 had voted early. If there were around 2000 voters, no-one was allowed to monitor the count”.
There were also commission members who did not sign the protocols. But it could not make a difference. It turned out that if a member of the commission did not sign a protocol, this... did not mean anything. Mikalai Lazavik, the secretary of the Central Election Commission, says:
“Who knows why he did not sign it. Perhaps, he was absent when the protocols were being signed or was not present at the commission's sitting. That's why it is recommended that everyone signs a protocol and mentions that he has a special opinion against his name”.
But what special opinions can be there, if a member of the commission sees the protocol only. He or she does not see how everythihg was happening. Something could have been done if opposition members were part of the commissions at the polling stations only, most opposition members of district commissions told the European Radio for Belarus.
“What could I do?" Lyudmila Denisenka complained to the European Radio for Belarus. She was a member of the district commission in the Brest region, representing the opposition Party of Communists.
Lyudmila Denisenka: “The district commission is a place where you sit just to receive documents. We have the town of Zhabinka and the Zhabinka district and the town of Malaryta and the Malaryta district... Two commission members would travel there, receive the ballot papers at the district administration and bring them over. But I can't say anything about how the ballots were received ot sorted”.
Lyudmila Denisenka reckons that people should not have been sent to district election commissions. Yauhen Lemesh, another oppposition members of the district commission in Minsk from the United Civic Party, agrees with her:
“If one opposition member is part of the district commission not at the polling station, nothing can be talked about here. Constituency commissions work exclusively as statists. They count the protocols received. Major problems arise at the polling stations”.
Nothing will change as long as opposition members are not part of commissions at polling stations, says Yauhen Lemesh.
At the polling stations where at least opposition observes was present, the results of the election differed radically from the rest of the polling stations, Lyudmila Denisenka told the European Radio for Belarus:
“Our candidate Anatol Novik was running in this constituency. I checked that wherever our observers were present, he had 30 percent of votes. At the other stations where we had no observers, there would be 10 people for Novik and 150 votes for a pro-government candidate, for example...”.
According to Lyudmila Denisenka, the same picture was with the advance voting as well:
“We made a comparison study. During the advance voting, Novik picked 10 percent, while Fedaruk got 90 percent. On the polling day, they had an approximately equal number of votes...”.
Even at the polling stations where opposition observers were present, they were not allowed to get access to the vote count, Lyudmila Denisenka complains:
“Our observers sat at the polling stations and wrote statements that they had not been allowed to monitor the vote count. They sat at a distance of 10 meters. At the ordinary polling stations, they stood nearby but what could be counted if out of 300 people 200 had voted early. If there were around 2000 voters, no-one was allowed to monitor the count”.
There were also commission members who did not sign the protocols. But it could not make a difference. It turned out that if a member of the commission did not sign a protocol, this... did not mean anything. Mikalai Lazavik, the secretary of the Central Election Commission, says:
“Who knows why he did not sign it. Perhaps, he was absent when the protocols were being signed or was not present at the commission's sitting. That's why it is recommended that everyone signs a protocol and mentions that he has a special opinion against his name”.
But what special opinions can be there, if a member of the commission sees the protocol only. He or she does not see how everythihg was happening. Something could have been done if opposition members were part of the commissions at the polling stations only, most opposition members of district commissions told the European Radio for Belarus.
