Statkevich's supporters distribute leaflet exposing vote frauds in the Belarusian Social Democratic Party leader's district

2001-03-31 16:10:00

Minsk, 31 March. The campaign team of Nikolai Statkevich, chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (BSDP), has issued a leaflet to expose vote frauds in Minsk's District No. 107, where the BSDP leader was on the ballot in the March 13-18 first round of parliamentary by-elections. A lot of the leaflet's copies have been distributed among the district's residents, whose voting, according to official results, denied Mr. Statkevich participation in the April 1 runoff round. The leaflet contests the official results, saying that Mr. Statkevich's campaign team has much evidence of fraud. According to the head of his campaign team, Valery Rzhannikov, record copies received from polling stations by 9 p.m. on March 18 showed that Mr. Statkevich had the lead. Then there was a long pause after which official results ceased to be in favor of the BSDP leader. The results from three polling stations that were received last, at about 11 p.m., turned out to be the most unfavorable for him, while Lyudmila Buryak, deputy chairwoman of Minsk's Pervomaisky District Administration, had reportedly received 40 to 50 percent of the vote at those polling stations, Mr. Rzhannikov said. The official results ultimately placed the BSDP leader third, which barred him from competing for a parliamentary seat in the runoff round. According to Mr. Rzhannikov, in most voting places, observers were allowed to stand close to the tables at which officials were counting votes. Poll workers kept observers at a distance, threatening to expel them from the polling station. The counters were squeezed up against each other, hiding the table, talking to each other in whispers and exchanging written notes, observers reported later. After the results of the vote in the district were announced, Mr. Statkevich's observers revealed that the district electoral commission's data differed from the figures in the certified copies that they had received from officials at 5 voting places and differed by hundreds of votes in favor of Ms. Buryak. The records that were submitted to the district commission and the copies handed to observers were signed by the same officials but they bore different figures, Mr. Rzhannikov noted. He added, referring to some poll workers at Polling Stations 515 and 516, that the heads of the stations' commissions had been forced to hand unfilled but signed count record forms to the district commission under threat of dismissal from their jobs. The leaflet issued by Mr. Statkevich's supporters concludes that the authorities have created a system in which the officially declared results of elections do not depend on vote counting. "The by-elections were a dress rehearsal before the [forthcoming] presidential poll. And this rehearsal has showed that the [executive government] 'vertical' is ready for mass falsifications to ensure the desired result," the leaflet says. Nonetheless, the authors note, the participation of advocates of democratic changes in the elections was useful as fraud mechanisms have become known, which will facilitate work on countermeasures.