Minsk: district electoral commissions have ‘consultants’ at district administrations

Representatives of district executive committees of Minsk receive ‘consultations’ from state authorities resulting in lawless restriction of observers’ rights.

One of such facts has been described by the observer of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee at Minsk south-eastern electoral district #99. ‘On 29 July I paid a visit to district electoral commission #99 without warning them in advance and asked to give me the telephone numbers of the persons who intended to run at this electoral district. In response to my request the duty officer of the commission V.Fiadosik (representative of the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus, entrepreneur) proposed that I familiarized with he list of members of the district electoral commission, but did not let me make a copy.

I pointed that I needed other information first of all and asked to satisfy my request. The duty officer answered that he needed to consult the ‘chairman’, Alexander Mikalayevich, and phoned to the latter. I asked who he was calling to, because the commission chairman was L.Filimonava. I was told that Alexander Mikalayevich was an officer of the personnel department of Maskouski district executive committee of Minsk. I was indignant: why should he need to consult administration concerning the issues which were within the commission’s competency? At that moment this very Alexander Mikalayevich appeared. Being asked what relation he had to the commission he answered that he was a ‘consultant’.’

With the ‘consultant’s’ assistance the commission decided not to give any telephone numbers to the observer.

Human rights activists for free elections