Statement of Belarusian Social Democratic Party

Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Narodnaya Hramada)
03.03.2003

Observers and candidates to deputy positions of Belarusian called the first stage of the election into local Deputy Soviets (that is already over) unprecedented in the scale of falsifications. Even according to the official information, more than 20% of electors voted before the Election Day, with blackmail and pressurization. The exceptionally high number of early votes to a large extent defined the results of the voting. In Orsha observers took hold of a ballot, where an unknown elector wrote: “Excuse me, we they force us to vote early, as if pointing guns at us”. As it was expected, some 20-50% of early votes turned to be pure support for the official candidates. If 50% of electors came to a polling station, the candidate of the authorities who balloted there received 40% votes, as almost all of them were for him/her. The most brightly this tendency could be observer in Minsk, where people even fought. Sometimes we had an impression that the commissions didn’t even calculate the votes, exchanging secret notes with each other in complete silence. In Barawliany an administrative case was initiated against a member of BSDP (NH), member of Minsk district territorial electoral commission for … an attempt to attend the calculation of votes in the local hospital.

Finally, all seven candidates of BSDP (NH) in Minsk beset the second places, receiving 35% of votes according to the official information. In all of these circuits the candidates of the power “won” in the first voting, irrespectively to the number of candidates. A different situation was in the province, where social-democrats more effectively resisted to falsifications. As a result, 11 social-democrats won in the first voting and became Deputies. Deputies of District Soviets: Iryna Veshtard (Smarhon), Valiantsina Kudlatskaya (Verkhniadzvinsk), Viktar Kryval (Uzda) and Uladzimir Mishura (Dziarzhynsk). Seven people became Deputies of village soviets in Baranavichy, Verkhniadzvinsk, Hlybokaye, Dziarzhynsk and Pukhavichy districts. In spite of enormous falsifications in Brest, Baranavichy, Pinsk, Vitsebsk, Orsha, Babruysk and Baran 22 social-democrats got enough votes for participation in the second voting. In Hrodna social-democrats disrupted elections in two city and one regional circuit in order to provide participation of candidates from BSDP (NH) as there were none. Observers registered 15 cases where the election was disrupted by the authorities not to let the winning social-democrats become Deputies. The majority of these circuits are situated in Orsha, Baran and Zhodzina.

The authorities evidently develop the falsification mechanisms, preparing to the referendum for introduction of the change into the Constitution, allowing A. Lukashenka to participate in the Presidential election for the third time. Democratic forces must create their mechanisms for preventing falsifications. We can do it only if we participate in the election. Social-democrats have a better result than other democratic parties, even at such election, because they understood this truth a bit earlier.

Chairman of Belarusian Social Democratic Party
(Narodnaya Hramada)
Mikalay Statkevich