BHC observer thrown out of election commission office

Anatol Rodzik, observer representing the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, has been forcibly ejected from the office of Vitsebsk-based constituency election commission No. 20, after he said he wanted to monitor the submission of election records.

After the observer told the commission head Mr. Kanavalau that he was violating the Electoral Code, the official said he would sue Anatol Rodzik and ordered to throw him out.

“The election commission head told me Belarusian observers could only attend the commission’s sittings, while foreign observers could monitor the submission of election records. Then, the commission’s office was visited by an OSCE observer, and they told him how good the elections were. And I told him about my situation. The observer said: “I have an English translation of the Electoral Code. And it says that all observers have equal rights.” The commission head then said that he was not right. He said: “We don’t have the Code only, but the CEC’s decrees, too. And these decrees prohibit Belarusian observers to attend the procedure,” says Anatol Rodzik.

“Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”