Lidziya Yarmoshyna: “Elections are impossible without administrative resource”
- 21.10.2008, 14:08
Chairperson of the Central Election Commission Lidziya Yarmoshyna thinks using of administrative resource for conducting elections is absolutely normal.
“Of course, we used the administrative leverage. Elections are impossible without administrative resource. When people say the administrative leverage is bad, I remind the simple truth: small quantity of poison can cure. The administrative resource is a stabilizer,” the CEC head told in an interview to “Narodnaya Hazeta” newspaper.
In her view, “nothing is able to hold out for two–three days based only on pubic enthusiasm”.
“The state provided work of electoral commissions, gave candidate an opportunity to speak on radio and TV, publish their programmes in newspapers, print leaflets, provided places for meetings with voters (and organised these meetings sometimes), equipped polling stations and made other things. Unfortunately, we don’t notice all things around us. It is like oxygen or water. It seems to be natural when they exist. Conducting the elections is the same. But it has work of many people behind,” Lidziya Yarmoshyna said.
She states that conditions for work of international observers at the Belarusian “elections” is unique.
“They had an opportunity to watch the whole electoral process from inside. They could be present during recording of their speeches of candidates for television, producing their leaflets and so on. This is not so widespread in the world. Let some foreign mission try to do this at the elections in the United States,“ Yarmoshyna said.
In her view, the fact OSCE observers couldn’t watch the vote count “doesn’t contradict the law”.
“At some polling stations, our commissions asked observers “watch the process from a distance”. This request doesn’t contradict the law. But observers didn’t like this request. OSCE representatives said there were no necessary conditions for control over vote counting at 48 per cent of the polling stations,” Lidziya Yarmoshyna thinks.