Collection of signatures for Aliaksandr Lukashenka in Hrodna and Kalinkavichy
Cases of forced signing in support of Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s candidacy for the presidnetial position were registered in Hrodna.
The workers of kindergarten #73, located in Dziarzhynski Street 133, who do not want to sign in support of the current head of state, are forced to write a written explanation. Members of Lukashenka’s electoral team also paid visits to houses #38, 40, and 42 in Tserashkou Streets, having the printed lists with the surnames of dwellers. They put the word ‘refusal’ opposite the surnames of those who refused to sign in support of Likashenka.
The Hrodna observers consider these manifestations of administrative forcing as a brutal violation of the electoral legislation and discrimination of citizens.
In Kalinkavichy, signatures for Aliaksnadr Lukashenka are collected in a different way. For example, the meat processing factory organized a concert and dinner on occasion of the Day of Elderly People. Veterans were told to bring their passports with them.
‘I understood that passports were needed to collect signatures for Lukashenka. I decided to take my passport but not to sign for him. It was the Day of Elderly People! They organized a dinner. There were tables laid for six persons, a bottle of vodka, fried brains. Not bad,’ one of the guests of the event told RFE/RL.
The local ideology officers collected signatures after the dinner.
Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections
