Yarmoshyna refuses to accept transparent ballot boxes from Nyaklyaeu

Before electoral commissions have begun checking the signature lists submitted by candidates' nomination groups, there are already questions from Central Election Commission, CEC Chairperson Lidziya Yarmoshyna told a news conference in Minsk.

Lidziya Yarmoshyna: “We have too many questions already at the stage of signature lists submission over whether all those signatures are valid. There are too many mistakes hitting an eye. Some candidates have submitted copies of signature lists (instead of originals), ans that's not allowed by the law”.

However, Yarmoshyna declined to give details of who of the candidates admitted flaws, but warned that the copies would not be checked even by district electoral commissions. The checks will be finished by November 8. Yarmoshyna also noted that if 15 percent of signatures are declared invalid, the rest of signatures would not be taken into account and a candidate would not be registered. She said that Uladzimir Pravalski managed to collect 109,338 signatures in Vitsebsk's Pershamaiski District, while there are around 115,000 valid voters!



This year, the record-breaking number of contenders (11) has managed to gather the required 100,000 signatures in Belarus' modern history. In 1994, there were 7 politicians who collected 100,000 signatures, and 4 in 2001 and 2006.

Besides, on October 31 the nomination of members of local electoral commissions also ended. 6390 commissions are expected to be formed, with nearly 84,000 people seeking to become a member of commissions. Ordinary citizens have turned out to be the most active, with almost 35,000 people nominated through signatures against 16,000 proposed by working collectives. The rest have been nominated by parties and public associations.

Lidzia Yarmoshyna: Public associations, including political parties, have nominated 32842 people. As for political parties, Communist Party is taking the lead by having nominated 700 members. It is followed by United Civic Party with 505 people. The Republican Party of Labor and Justice is third with 468 people.

Trade unions stand out among public associations with 10,072 people nominated for electoral commissions. Belaya Rus is the second with 4311, followed by Belarusian Women's Union with 4237 members.

ERB reminded CEC chairwoman that during the previous elections, opposition put many claims over how territorial electoral commissions had been formed when nearly all of opposition members were not included. ERB asked how it would be this time around.

Lidzia Yarmoshyna: As for political parties, I believe their dissatisfaction with how territorial commissions were fomed were justified, indeed. Only 20 percent of their applications were met. But, to avoid complaints, it is necessary to approve all applications, somthing that is impossible to meet in principle as there are applications than seats on electoral commissions. There will be definitely those who are not happy.

Journalists also drew Yarmoshyna's attention to the fact that applications from BRSM (pro-governmental youth union) had been approved fully. Yet, Lidzia Yarmoshyna left this observation without a sensible comment.

As for the statement by Police Lt.-Col. Kazlou about the falsifications during the 2008 parliamentary elections, Yarmoshyna described it as a provocation.

Lidzia Yarmoshyna: Inspectors from CEC were immediately sent over to that particular electoral commission. In the evening, all observers, including internationals, national and local observers, gathered at that polling station. Eventually, none of the mission had any questions over the vote-count at the end of their monitoring missions.



ERB also asked about the promised TV debates, pointing to the claims from potential contenders against pre-recorded debates. But, CEC chairwoman maintained she had heard none of such claims.

Lidzia Yarmoshyna: We were approached by a group of citizens, including five potential presidential candidates, who were asking to sort out several issues like access to the media for campaigning. But, none of the contenders filed claims over recorded TV debates.

Central Election Commission will study this claim from politicians on November 5. Yarmoshyna promised to return to this issue during the session on Friday.

Towards the end of the briefing, Lidzia Yarmoshyna made a statement that staff at CEC liked joking around. When asked about the transparent ballot boxes which Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu had promised to buy and pass as a gift to electoral commissions, Yarmoshyna said the law does not allow them to accept any humanitarian aid. She described CEC secretary Mikalai Lazavik's consent in an interview with ERB earlier to accept those ballot boxes from Nyaklyaeu as a joke.

Photo by: Zmicier Lukashuk