Belarus CEC: Mai thing is size of ballot boxes, not transparency

• 21.01.2010, 15:41

On January 21 the Central Election Commission approved requirements to ballot boxes for the upcoming “elections” to local councils.

Local election commissions have a right to order transparent ballot boxes for the “elections” to the local councils, said Chief Specialist for the Central Election Commission Aleh Khmyalyou at the session of the CEC, BelTA informs.

Today the CEC has approved requirements to ballot boxes for the upcoming local councils’ elections. According to this document, commissions have a right to use immovable and transportable ballot boxes.

“The degree of transparency is not defined by the approved requirements, the main thing is to follow the size,” underlines Aleh Khmyalyou. As said by him, a fixed ballot box should be 85x50x40 centimeters. It must have a flap cover with a slot and a thing tat allows sealing the box. A movable ballot box should be smaller.

During early voting election commissions should determine independently which kind of a ballot box would be used, a fixed one or transportable one.

As stated by Khmyalyou, in the upcoming elections to local councils deputies would mostly use the same fixed and transportable ballot boxes like during previous elections, Aleh Khmyalyou said.

We remind that one of the demands for lifting sanctions against a number of Belarusian officials, the European Union named changing the Electoral Code of Belarus and holding democratic elections. Among other things, representatives of the EU offered to use transparent ballot boxes during the elections.

All electoral campaigns in Belarus held since 1996 are recognized unfree and unfair by the international community. CEC head Lidziya Yarmoshyna has been put on the list of restricted to enter the EU countries and US for rigging the results of elections.