Local election in Belarus: I voted at random!

The first polling station we chose was Aeroflot election district #18 situated in the hall of residence of Minsk Civil Aviation Plant #407. It was boring there: only a policeman circling around and an observer playing games on his tablet.

I asked them where I could read the candidates programmes. The election commission members showed me a stand with the biographies of three candidates: Churo, Danilovich and Antonov.

“This is the information presented by the candidates. We do not have anything else.”

A man with a pack of food voted without any preparation, he did not even enter the voting booth. I asked him how he had chosen his candidate. He brushed away and then shouted from afar:

“To be honest, I voted at random!”

Maryna and her husband live in this hall of residence but they have not voted yet. They will vote for the person who works in the aviation like they do, they said:

"He works in the aviation, like us.”

Victoria who brought her baby in a pram to the polling station could not say why she wanted to vote for her candidate. She only read his biography, had never seen his programme but was sure that ‘the candidate must have a programme ’.

Victoria recalled that she had voted for the same person a year before. What has he achieved in a year?

Victoria: “I do not know. I did not monitor it. We will vote because we live in this hall of residence and we will vote for the man who works in the aviation.”

Chkalov election district #19 situated at school #1 was also empty. Only one of the five candidates presented his programme – Dzmitry Mekilyan. He has no property and is the director general of the National Airport Minsk.

Election commission embers Mikhail Ivanavich and Alena Victrauna strained themselves when they saw a journalist.

People keep coming and 52 electros out of 2400 have already voted, they said. They are waiting for Sunday and a festive occasion:

“People want a festive occasion. A concert will be given by children and a cafe will be open,” the commission members started advertising.

I pointed at the empty seats for observers. Alena Viktarauna spread her arms:

“We are waiting for them. But they won’t come!”

Only one voter, Pavel, came to vote in 20 minutes. I asked him about the reason for his choice.

“I received an invitation by post,” Pavel said. It was an invitation containing the candidate’s biography, birthplace and income. It was enough for Pavel.

I asked pensioner Alyaksandr Paulavich in Rabkorauskaya Street why he was not voting. He did not like the early vote. He will vote on the Election Day!

“I do not care about all these candidates. They make 200-300 millions a year. There are few poor candidates. Why do I need such candidates? I will cross out every name,” the pensioner impressed me.

The polling station in the Institute of Culture was full of people. They were even queuing!

Students were voting very quickly. Everyone voted for their rector – Yury Bondar. “He is a good and responsible person,” they explained.

Student Ivan expects the rector to finish the construction of the sports complex. Student Valyantsina wants the same.

“They have been building it for several years. I am a third-year student and it hasn’t been finished yet. We have to do sports outdoors and we are always falling ill. We also want to establish order in the dormitory.”

“Responsibility and respectability are the main reasons why I have voted for him,” Ivan added.

It was the most crowded polling station. 386 students out of 2100 voted there.