BIB leaders: This is not an election!

According to Alaksandr Milinkievich and Alaksiey Yanukievich, the authorities performed mass violations – even in the cases when this wasn’t actually needed.

The leaders of the Belarusian Independence Block (BIB) declared that the election campaign to local Councils was a rehearsal for the presidential election. The amendments to the Election Law are an impudent mockery at the procedure generally accepted all over the worlds. The authorities continue “tightening the screws” on the eve of the presidential election.

According to Alaksiey Yanukievich, the head of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) party, the main violations include the conscienceless increasing of attendance (allegedly, some 30% of voters participated in the early voting), and the absence of separate counting of votes in the early voting boxes. At the overwhelming majority of precincts, the observers and the authorized representatives of candidates had no possibility to see the content of the ballot papers.

The Movement for Freedom (the MFF) leader Alaksandr Milinkievich added that the requirement of the Law on performing final sessions of precinct commissions in order to consider the complaints about violations was expressly ignored almost at every precinct.

As an example, the participants of the press conference described the situation in the constituency of the deputy Ivan Sheha from Slonim town. This doctor, well-known and much respected in the local region, was winning for sure at the voting day and during voting at homes; however, the final result in the constituency was decided by the ballot papers from the early voting box. One of the members of the precinct commission where Ivan Sheha’s ballot papers were counted protested refusing to sign the final minutes.

Artur Finkievich, the leader of the Young Belarus movement, noted that a considerable pressure on the part of the authorities was exerted on the candidates for deputies. The Young Belarus delegated 38 people, of which only 11 became the candidates. No one was elected.

Likewise, no single representative of the MFF or the BPF became a deputy of local Councils. According to Yanukievich, dozens of complaints to the Central Election Commission and to the Prosecutor’s Office were already filed or are drawn up now.

Nonetheless, Milinkievich thinks there are positive results of the participation in the campaign:

“We aimed at increasing the protest moods in the society in order for people to see an alternative choice and to see the level of ballot-rigging. We managed to reach this aim to a certain degree.

The MFF leader thinks the society became riper for change. The people now respect alternative opinions. The political culture develops. The struggle for peoples’ support should continue.

“The most important thing now is for the civilized world to understand that this election was rigged, and could not be declared valid. The election campaign to local Councils, that is virtually a rehearsal of the presidential campaign, demonstrates that “tightening of the screws” will be performed at the presidential election, as well. In this situation, our solidarity would have significant importance”, the MFF leader Alaksandr Milinkievich thinks.

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