Yarmoshyna: Vote count procedure may change after parliamentary election

Chairperson of the Central Election Commission Lidziya Yarmoshyna is planning to make suggestions about changes in the Election Code to the President after this year’s parliamentary election, she told journalists on June 23.

Election committee members will not show every ballot paper to observers, Yarmoshyna said: “It is necessary to change the law for it because the procedure is indicated there.” The Belarusian authorities have fulfilled the recommendation of the OSCE/ODIRH and observers will be able to control the vote count, the CEC chairperson stressed.

She will present some suggestions concerning changes in the vote count to the President after the election, the CEC chairperson announced. However, she did not reveal any details because all decisions about changes in the legislation are made when a consensus is reached at a meeting with the President.

Transparent ballot boxes are a farfetched topic, Yarmoshyna thinks. She does not believe that they can change anything and that they increase the trust to elections. “They may produce some psychological effect for a minute or an hour and that is it. The vote count decides everything,” the official thinks.

The parliamentary election is appointed for September 11.