Government-backed candidate wins parliamentary vote in Grodno, opposition contenders cry foul

2005-03-21 10:30:00

Minsk, 21 March. Sergei Maskevich, rector of Grodno State University, won a seat in the House of Representatives in Sunday's disputed vote in Grodno. The central election commission announced early on Monday that the government-backed candidate garnered 65.33 percent of the vote, well ahead of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF)'s Sergei Antusevich and ex-MP Valery Frolov who gained 14.22 percent and 12.4 percent, respectively. Turnout in the district was around 59.3 percent, Nikolai Lozovik, secretary of the central election commission, told BelaPAN. More than 200 monitors observed the vote, with BPF observers reporting a number of irregularities. The party considers contesting the official results of the poll. Speaking on Sunday, both opposition contenders expressed certainty that the election would be rigged. "How can one comment on a vote during which laws are changed and local soviet members are expelled from polling stations as a result of the changes," Mr. Antusevich said in an interview with BelaPAN. "This is evidence that the election has been turned into a farce." Mr. Frolov described the vote as an "orchestrated process." "I have no doubts that the results of the election have already been falsified," he told BelaPAN. Speaking days ahead of the election, Mr. Maskevich said he had "a 100-percent chance of winning the vote." According to Mr. Lozovik, the central election commission is scheduled to hold a session on March 25 to approve the results of the poll.