Slutsk: Very different “equal” conditions for campaigning

Vital Amialkovich, observer in Slutsk district # 74, reports violation of teh principle of equality of candidates occurred in the district.

For instance, voters were forced to come to the majority of meetings with the official candidate Inesa Kliashchuk. Kliashchuk openly enjoyed the support from the officials of Slutsk rayon executive committee: deputy chair of the executive committee Piotr Dauhuchyts and head of the ideology department Larysa Dabravolskaya. They accompanied the candidate to the meetings, and used service vehicles to take the candidate to rural areas.

The observer gives an example of the meeting with voters in the building of the central rayon hospital which took place on September 11th. The meeting of Inesa Kliashchuk with the voters was to start at 1 p.m. However, the head physician of the hospital who is also candidate’s agent decided to carry out two meetings. The first meeting was actually carried out during work time and began at 8 a.m. Kliashchuk’s opponent Anatol Yurevich, member of BSDP H, having learned about the meeting, also tried to speak to the voters. However, the head physician told his subordinates to leave the conference room. The events developed in the similar way during the second meeting at 1 p.m.

Another example: on September 18th Inesa Kliashchuk was to meet with the voters in school # 13 in Slutsk. The school-level 9-11 graders’ parents’ meeting was planned for the same time. That is why Kliashchuk had such a mass audience. Anatol Yurevich was also present. School principal Mikhas Sakovets allowed Yurevich to speak only due to insistent demands from the students' parents.

According to the observer, there were numerous cases when representatives of the authorities, CEOs and ideology managers of enterprises and institutions openly urged to vote for Inesa Kliashchuk during staff meetings.

Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections