Belarusian CEC approved the mystery of the process of signature checking

• 11.11.2010, 15:30

The complaint of an observer about the actions of Salihorsk election commission during signature checking was not satisfied by the Central Election Commission.

The day before the signature checking stage a human rights defender Leanid Markhotka, accredited as an observer at a Salihorsk district electoral commission, addressed with the request to be present exactly at the commission work time:

- As practice shows, observers are usually invited only to the final sitting, where resulting numbers are voiced. It is impossible to control the checking process. That is why this moment was particularly underlined in his request to the election commission. The electoral Code in no way prohibits a commission to let observers directly to the checking process of signatures authenticity. Even more, the legislation guarantees holding elections in open and public conditions, - Markhotka says.

But the district electoral commission, probably, does not consider so and Leanid Markhotka was not let to signature checking, and he complained about it in CEC. The Central Commission did not satisfy the claim and stated in its answer that “checking of voters’ signatures collected by initiative groups is carried out beyond the commission sittings and thus observers do not have right to be present there”, “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” report.