Belarus parliament elections

MINSK, 13 June (BelTA) – Chairperson of the Belarusian Central Election Commission (CEC) Lidia Yermoshina has called for making no fuss about international election observation in an interview with the Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA has learned.

“We should work primarily for the benefit of Belarusian voters and act in accordance with our election legislation which is quite good. As for observers, the main thing is that we invite international monitors and cooperate with them. Let us make no fuss about this. International election observers have been put on a pedestal and demonized to such an extent that you have started to fear them. There is nothing to be afraid of. All you need to do is to be open and friendly towards these people,” Lidia Yermoshina noted.

The CEC Chairwoman stressed that measures are taken in Belarus to ensure transparency of ballot counting, which is a key responsibility of election commissions. “First of all, election observers should be given access to many data that is simply not provided for in the law. For instance, today observers cannot request information about the number of voters on the electoral roll or the voter turnout figures. It is considered that they will later have a chance to read the election protocols. Now we instruct our election officials to provide this information to national and international observers, let them monitor the transfer of protocols from precinct election commissions to district commissions, and give them access to district election results reports,” Lidia Yermoshina said. She added that precinct commissions will be instructed to create conditions for the observers to be able to directly monitor the vote counting process.