Early voting is voluntary but compulsory - students
It is not yet ten c'clock -- time when the polling station #56 opens in the Belarusian University of Culture and Arts, but there are already a few students at the door. The majority of students, in groups of ten or twenty people -- will come over in between the classes.
Third-year student Krystina loudly declares that she came to the polls to fulfill her civic duty!
"Everyone should vote, it's our contribution to the system. A new broom is, of course, a good thing, but it is quieter with the old one, says Krystina to Euroradio. The girl is voting early for mercantile reasons: "Because we were told that we can go home earlier."
And then I hear the indignant voice of the guy in the crowd: She gave us all up just like that!
Krystina corrects herself: I came earlier, because then there will be long lines.
A friend of Krystina, the third-year student Nastia from Minsk lives with her parents, she will go to the polls on October 11.
"I am from Minsk and will vote on the election day. I read their programs and chose the one I liked best," says Anastassia.
I walk down the hall and hear the teacher catche students on the stairs and ask them to vote: he tells them the opening hours of the polling station, breaks and reminds them to have a passport on them.
During the breaks, the students are going to the polling station: one is silent, another is exclaming: "I'm going to the polls! I'm going to vote!" I am not even trying to ask them whom they will vote for, students openly tell me that and even explain why they will chose this candidate: "For there to be no war and for stability."
"Curator, please, come and vote early, says student Anastasia. She does not know whether it will be a free day, but she is pleased with such a prospect. "I would come on the day when it is official. But they asked me to come early! Everyone is doing it ahead of schedule, so I want to be like them."
Nastya already knows who she will vote for, as she has more confidence in him: "He did a lot of things for the state, and his experience inspires confidence."
Today, the university has a special atmosphere. During the break, all are talking about the election.
Krystina is going to vote with the words "It was voluntary-compulsory, but I chose the candidate who is charming!"
Fifth-year student Natallia has not yet decided for whom to vote:
"I will choose in the booth. I know that there is a woman, two or three men, but will my voice change anything?" Natallia asks me. When the girl sees that the recorder is off, she says a few words about each candidate. She says Tatsiana Karatkevich is the brightest one:
"She is a good, young woman, she can do something! She has energy. And why are these old men going into politics? What can they do?"
While I ask students questions, I get a remark from the chair of the election commission: "Are you an observer here? Do you have the right to ask such questions?"
This is a polling station in Minsk Architectural College. Within 45 minutes of opening 25 people have already voted.
I asked the college student, why he voted early:
"It's my civic duty," he proudly replied.
Euroradio: What is the duty exactly? You can vote on election day as well.
- Well, I just want to go home.
Euroradio: You can also vote at home...
- Well, I do not know.
But in the College of Technology the polling station is ... empty.
The box is surprisingly clear. It has one ballot paper inside. After 40 minutes there is only one voter!
Maybe because this college has its dormitory based somewhere else. And there is a separate polling station.
