Hrodna district: precinct commissions defined by sterility
It took the Hrodna
District Executive Committee just 7 minutes (!) to form 40 precinct election commissions in the Hrodno district.
According to the ‘established tradition’, the lists of
the commissions’ members weren’t read and the candidacies weren’t discussed. Among
the persons who were included in the commissions there are 26 representatives
of the ‘state NGO’ Belaya Rus, 24
representatives of the pro-governmental Belarusian Republican Youth Union
(BRSM), 37 representatives of the Belarusian Union of Women, 101 nominees of
state trade unions, 4 representatives of collectives of institutions and enterprises
and 280 persons nominated by collecting electors’ signatures. The sitting was
attended by the observers Uladzimir Khilmanovich and Mikola Voran.
During the sitting it was found out that 14 nominees weren’t included in the commissions.
Uladzimir Khilmanovich asked what criteria served as the reason for
non-including these people in the commissions. The head of the organizational
and personnel department of the executive committee Valery Balashou spent some
time looking for the appropriate documents, but eventually gave an answer. As
it turned out, quite many people were nominated to the Abukauskaya precinct
commission #24. The matter is that the representative of the Belarusian Social
Democratic Hramada Halina Dzerbysh was nominated to this commission earlier
than all other people. However, the authorities were reluctant to include the
oppositionist in the commission. The number of pretenders for work in the
commission rapidly increased, as a result of which 5 people weren’t included in
it, of course including Halina. Thus, only ‘reliable people’ will work in all
40 PECs of the
Hrodna district.
Human
Rights Defenders for Free Elections
