Member of opposition allowed to sign fewer ballots than was promised in presence of OSCE observers

A BPF member Iryna Semianiuk-Smiayan who is a member of precinct election commission #104  in Minsk was promised to be allowed to sign all 2,300 voting papers on Monday. It happened in the presence of OSCE observers. However, she was only allowed to sign 100 ballots on the first day of the early voting.

That is what Iryna Semianiuk-Smiayan said in an interview with Euroradio:

’I was given only 100 voting papers when I arrived there at 8 a.m. I signed them and the ballot box and they sealed it. Then it turned out that a meeting of the commission I didn’t know about had to start. Nobody told me about it at the yesterdays’ meeting.’

The head of the Minsk City Election Commission Ihar Karpenka attended the meeting of the precinct commission. Under his influence it was decided that only two people could sign 100 voting papers every day.

Iryna Semianiuk-Smiayan: ‘Karpenka arrived, made a speech and said: I think that two people should be allowed to sign them. So they decided to allow two people to do it. Answering the question about it he said: ‘I am nobody here, I am not a observer or member of the committee, so I am not going to reply.’ It turns out that he made a speech and everyone voted under his influence…”.

Iryna will be able to sign voting papers once again only on Saturday – her next workday in the precinct commission.