Hrodna: Behavior of heads of precinct election commissions changes

Agents of democratic candidates and independent observers point out significant changes in the behavior of heads of precinct commissions in Hrodna districts. If on Tuesday the representatives of precinct election commissions were eager to talk to them and provide official information, on Wednesday they seemed to be different people. We believe such a dramatic change in behavior can be explained by the session in Hrodna oblast executive committee, which allegedly took place on Tuesday, after the speech of Alexander Lukashenka and his statements about who should really be the bosses at polling stations. Most probably, during the session heads of commissions received new instructions from the regional authorities.

Siarhei Malchyk, agent of BPF candidate Siarhei Antusevich in Hrodna-Centralnaya district, he visited 10 polling stations on Wednesday. At seven of them, chairmen of the precinct election commissions categorically refused to provide any information about the course of voting to him. Besides that, at polling stations which used to have many additional campaign materials – candidate’s platforms, newspaper pages with information about the election process and candidates leaflets he found only the general posters. All the additional materials disappeared. This is especially true in Hrodna-Zaniomanskaya district, where BPF candidate Vadzim Saranchukou is running against chairman of Hrodna city executive committee Alexander Antonenka.

Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections