Minsk: member of precinct election commission nominated by BPF Party tries to restore her rights
A member
of the precinct election commission #104 of the Maskouski District of Minsk Iryna
Smiayan-Semianiuk applied to the Central Election Commission and the Minsk City
Election Commission with a complaint about unlawful actions by the commission
Chairperson, Yury Nasonau. As stated in the complaint, in violation of Part 3
of Article 37 of the Electoral Code of Belarus I.Smiayan-Semianiuk was not
invited to the meeting of the commission, except the first two ones.
Thus, she was
unable to participate in such important moments of the campaign as getting a
list of voters, the ballot papers, and in the training of the commission
members. In addition, the chairperson of the commission
answered her questions in a rude form. She was allowed to familiarize neither with
the minutes of the sittings of the commission she had missed, nor with other
documents adopted by the commission in her absence.
’During my conversation with the
chairman of the committee, I asked him why I hadn’t been invited to the
sittings of the commission or informed about them, and received quite a rude
reply. He answered that it he wasn’t obliged to invite
me,’ writes I.Smiayan-Semianiuk.
On 7 December Iryna managed to talk with the commission
Chairperson. During their conversation he confessed that everything was decided
not by him, but by the district authorities. ‘It means
that the state authorities interfere with the work of the election commission,
though they don’t have such rights according to the Electoral Code of the Republic of Belarus. In particular, Article 24 of
the Electoral Code regulates the duties of the local executive and
administrative bodies, which doesn’t include the management of precinct
election commissions.’
Mrs. Smiayan-Semianiuk also notes
that according to ruling #99 of the Central Election Commission of 5 November
2010 the training of precinct election commissions in cities was to have been
conducted by city district election commissions till 8 December, whereas
accoridng to Mr. Nasonau it was held by the Maskouski District Executive Committee
of Minsk. ‘Thus, it is evident that the precinct election commission wasn’t
trained by the competent body, is not independent and is ruled by the district
authorities, which violates its independence that is guaranteed by Part 3 of Article
11 of the Electoral Code, which states that election commissions are
independent from the authorities within the limits of their powers during
elections,’ points Iryna.
The activist is sure that the reason for ignoring her as
a member of the precinct commisison is that she had been nominated to it by the
Belarusian Popular Front Party. As she is the only representative of the
democratic opposition in the commission, her elimination from the commission
activities is aimed at the prevention of the monitoring of the activities of
the commission.
Human
Rights Defenders for Free Elections
