Vitsebsk: soldiers are ordered to vote early as well
Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections continue receiving information about violations of the electoral
legislation. Today we have received an audio recording of a briefing that was
held at special mobile brigade #103 by the deputy commandant on ideology.
’In order to achieve the most important task for December’ the ideologist
ordered the officers not to sign the vacation leaves to soldiers and direct
those who needed vacations for family reasons to him or lieutenant-colonel
Kavaliou so that they could take measures for the organization of early voting
for the soldiers who really needed vacations for family reasons.
The administration of the mobile battalion is also required to provide the
lists of the persons who serve or work on a contract basis (officers, ensigns, sergeants
and civilians) with specifying the places of their residence registration. The
military servants who are registered outside Vitsebsk can be provided with a
day-off to come and vote at the place of registration. There is also another, ‘more
reliable’ variant (according to the ideologist) – these people can be put on a special
list so that the lieutenant-colonel could organize early voting for them.
Meanwhile, the commandants of squads are asked to pay attention to the
following circumstance: each of them must have the electoral program of
Aliaksandr Lukashenka. The main task is to ‘wisely explain the provisions of
this program without going to far’, or at least read it.
According to the briefing, the commandants of all squads will be familiarized
with the schedule of early voting. However, the following decision has been
taken already: the soldiers who were put on the additional list of voters,
those who work on the polygon, the soldiers of mobile battalion #350 and those
who will be on duty on 19 December will vote early.
Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections
