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Rights activists announce plans to monitor presidential race

Belarusian rights defenders are set to carry out a campaign entitled, "Human Rights Activists for Free Elections," Aleh Hulak, chairman of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, said at a questions-and-answers session hosted by BelaPAN`s online newspaper Belorusskiye Novosti on Tuesday.

As part of the campaign, activists will conduct the short and long-term observation of the ongoing presidential race and report any violations that they may record to the Belarusian and international community, Mr. Hulak said.

“Our purpose is to monitor how authorities comply with national laws and international standards and whether the elections are free and fair, as well as to inform the Belarusian and international community about our findings,” Mr. Hulak said.

The campaigners will draw up preliminary reports that will be later incorporated into their general overview of the race.

Another prominent rights defender, Valyantsin Stefanovich, said that Belarusian electoral regulations allow holding transparent elections, but everything depends on the will of their “organizers.”

A number of key stages in the electoral process remain "closed," he said, suggesting that votes cast during the early voting stage, remotely and at the polling station on the main voting day should be counted separately. “These votes are counted by members of the local commission simultaneously, and it is impossible to monitor the actual counting process,” he said. “If the election authorities addressed the issue, the vote count could become transparent.”

Mr. Stefanovich said that observers should be allowed to stand beside the table where ballots are counted manually. One member of the commission should show every ballot paper to the monitors and announce the voter`s preferences, he said.

Mr. Hulak said that the key problem with national electoral regulations is that they pave the way for non-transparent elections.

He said that the campaigners would seek to cooperate closely with foreign monitors. “We want CIS and OSCE observers to receive from us the most exhaustive information possible,” he said.