Central election commission reports record turnout on first day of early voting

February 21, Pozirk. Belarus’ central election commission has reported that 5.94 percent of registered voters cast ballots on the first day of early voting in Belarus’ parliamentary and local elections.

The early voting takes place from February 20 to 24 with the main election day set for Sunday, February 25.

International organizations, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and Belarusian election monitoring groups have criticized the early voting procedure as vulnerable to abuse. Belarusian human rights organizations say that early voting is the key element of the government’s vote rigging machine.

The first day’s official early voting turnout rose from 2.68 percent in the 2004 parliamentary election, to 2.8 percent in 2008, 3 percent in 2012, 3.92 percent in 2016 and 4.69 percent in 2019.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) concluded that all these polls fell short of democratic standards for free and fair elections.

Minsk has not invited any ODIHR observers this year, but said that some 200 international monitors have been deployed. Most represent the Commonwealth of Independent States and other Russia-led bodies.

The central election commission has not registered a single opposition candidate for the contests. The opposition is not represented in the election commissions.

The Belarusian pro-democracy forces will hold a live YouTube event titled “I Choose a New Belarus!” on February 25.

“Make the right choice and stay home on the non-election day. They are offering us to pretend that we have a choice, but it is a lie,” Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja’s office appealed to voters. “Do not participate in the deception and watch the YouTube marathon.”

The show will feature more than 20 speakers, including artists, activists and economists. They will share their vision of “moving from a dictatorship of lies and fear to a new Belarus.”