Svetlahorsk: Not all voters included in voters’ lists

A member of one of precinct election commissions in Svetlahorsk reports, the chairman of the commission instructed them not to include all voters living in the precinct in a voters’ list.

“There are people who never go to the polls in every precinct. Experienced members of precinct election commissions know who they are. The school principal said such people should not be included in the lists.”, -- the member of a precinct election commission, who asked not to publish his name, said. They received similar instructions during the previous elections, he added.

In the opinion of the commission member, this will make it possible to increase the turn-out of voters in the precinct.

According to the Election Code, “citizens who were not included in the list for some reason”, are to be included in the additional list. This is done on the Election Day. In fact it means that it is possible to include those who do not go to the polls, and non-existent voters in the additional lists. This is also an opportunity for falsification: at the cost of those who did not go to the polls but were included in the additional lists, one can increase the number of votes for the “right” candidates.

“The executive committee did not include any of the 28 UDF representatives nominated to precinct election commissions. The Election Code does not entitle observers to clarify circumstances of composing additional lists or monitor the vote counting, in order to check them against the number of voters on the lists”, -- Viktar Ramanishka from Svetlahorsk, member of Homel regional BPF Council, says.

We should point out, in many countries voters’ lists are collected for each election, and only court may change the lists on the Election Day. Besides that, in many countries the authorities keep not only precinct but district, or even nation-wide voters’ lists, significantly cutting down on the chances of election falsifications.

Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections