English

Crucial provision regarding observation distance removed from amendments to Electoral Code

The provision governing an observation distance for monitors witnessing the count of ballots has been removed from a final bill of amendments to the Electoral Code that is scheduled to be debated by the national legislature next week, Lidziya Yarmoshyna, head of the central election commission, said in an interview with BelaPAN.

The central election commission proposed that observers be allowed to observe ballot counts from a distance that would enable them to clearly see the process.

Political analysts viewed the provision as one of the few crucial changes proposed by the commission.

Ms. Yarmoshyna said that the provision was scrapped as subjective.

“The powers of observers will remain as specified in the current version [of the Electoral Code], which reads that observers have the right to observe the count of votes,” Ms. Yarmoshyna said.

The official defended the decision to remove the proposal.

“Any law is a fruit of compromise,” she said. “There is also an opinion of those who organize elections. For instance, the heads of district election commissions believe that they are less protected than observers. They demanded provisions that would give broader powers to the members and heads of district election commissions, and the compromise was made.”

Ms. Yarmoshyna stressed that the bill would extend a list of persons who may be nominated as observers. The list would include not only members of non-governmental organizations and political parties but also their representatives and candidates, she noted.