Election Observation Guide

ELECTION OBSERVATION GUIDE Prepared by the Republican Liberal Youth Organization «Civil Forum» on the basis of reports of its own observers What? Where? When? November 12 - 17, 2019 - date of elections (including early elections) in the House of Representatives of the 7th convocation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus Based on the elections, 110 deputies were elected in the Lower House of the Belarusian Parliament "Civil Forum" in the elections The authorities recognized the elections «Civil Forum» participated in 2 components as valid. OSCE did not recognize in the parliamentary elections: election results Candidates for deputies. The organization nominated 1 candidate for deputy, the head of the largest media community of the Mogilev region (Mogilev Live) Alexander Irkho. The candidate was not elected to parliament. In addition, 12 independent candidates were trained at the organization’s trainings. - Observers: more than 20 observers from Civil Forum worked in polling stations in 4 cities of the country 77,22% , 3% more than in 2016 Turnout 11 representatives of the Communist Party 6 - from the Republican Party of Labor and Justice 2 - from the Patriotic Party 1 - from the Agrarian Party 1 - from the Liberal Democratic Party Parties in Parliament 89 - non-party Not a single candidate from independent forces or opposition parties has been elected Mogilev Central District №85, polling station №25 Reported offences: 1. Observers did not see 50% of the vote count. 2. The doors of the counting room were not closed during the procedure. After 20:00, strangers entered the hall. 3. Members of the commission stacked ballots in different piles, but they did not provide access to them for observers. Accordingly, it is not possible to establish the content of the ballots. The election commission members reported the results of the voting in a whisper, avoiding information leakage outside the commission’s staff. Observers were provided for review only the final protocol. 4. The election commission reacted negatively to the presence of mobile phones in the hands of voters, and did not allow taking pictures of what was happening. It was allowed to take a photo of only the final protocol. Mogilev Central District №85, polling station №34 Reported offences: 1.The pro-government observers violated the rules, communicated with all members of the commission, and not only with the chairman and his deputy, approached the ballot boxes and the tables where they issued ballots, which is a violation, comments were not made to them. 2. During the vote count, observers were placed behind a column that limited the angle of observation, while the passage to the table where the votes were counted was also filled with chairs. 3. One of the pro-government observers during the final vote count observed independent observers, instead of observing the count. An attempt to get closer to the place of vote counting was rudely suppressed. The pro-observer said that he was being disturbed by an independent observer, and a member of the commission threatened to remove the latter from the hall. 4. Huge postscript of voices. For the main voting day, the turnout, according to the estimates of independent observers, was 249 people at home, 54 people voted (303 in total). According to the election commission, 507 people voted. 5. The commission did not count two ballots, according to their data 509 were issued, 507 was obtained, to which they suggested that someone could take the two ballots with them. Mogilev Central District №85, polling station №64 Reported offences: 1. The premises of the election commission for the night were not sealed. 2. One of the pro-government observers during the final count prohibited video shooting and monitored the observers, and not the counting process. 3. The election commission is hostile, attempts to take photos and videos of what was happening were thwarted by threats to call the police and deprive observers of accreditation. 4. According to the early election there was a falsification of 130 votes. 5. The total discrepancy in the number of votes: according to the Election Commission, 826 voters voted. According to independent observers, 392. Minsk Kolosovsky 106th district, polling station №536 Reported offences: Violation of Art. 13 of Election Codex of Belarus. At polling station No. 536, three opposition observers were removed from the polling station. Time of removal and withdrawal of accreditation: even before the start of the election process 07:55 by unanimous decision of the election commission. Reason: photographing the final protocol of voting without permission of the chairman of the commission. The protocol of the meeting of the Election Commission on the decision on removal referred to Article 13 of Election Codex, in which, however, there is no paragraph on photo and video shooting. The right of the observer to make copies of the final protocols by all available means is also fixed there. Minsk Kolosovsky 106th district, polling station № 551 Reported offences: 1. During the final counting of votes at polling station No. 551, the chairman of the precinct election commission rudely refused the request of the observer to show the contents of the ballots, which violates the legislation of the Republic of Belarus on open and transparent vote counting. 2. When filing a complaint about violation of the principle of publicity and openness of the election to the Deputy Chairman of the precinct election commission, the chairman of the commission publicly encroached on the dignity of the observers who filed a complaint, accusing them of inappropriate boorish behavior. The situation was interpreted by the chairman as follows: the observers “ran into complaints about the deputy chairman, she was scared and made a mistake in the protocol because of you”). Novopolotsk Kolosovsky 24th district Reported offences: 1. The vote count was not transparent; observers were not allowed to the table. The table of the chairman, his deputy and secretary was out of sight of the observer, which did not allow him to see what was happening on the table. They did not accept the complaint about the opaque vote count, because it was printed, not handwritten. 2. The fact of coercion of students to vote (especially ahead of schedule) in elections was recorded. One of the voters admitted that he had received a threat of eviction from the student dormitory if he did not vote. 3. One of the observers received threats of expulsion from the educational institution for participating in independent monitoring. Grodno, Central District №51, polling station №33 Reported offences: 1.Independent observers recorded significant discrepancies in the final protocol of the Precinct Election Commission and in the calculations of observers. The commission has 301 votes, the observer has 322. 2. The election commission violated article 13 of the Penal Code of the Republic of Belarus, according to which elections must be held openly and openly. Observers did not have access to the bulletin review. Instead, it is proposed to observe the vote counts from a 5-meter distance. Resolution of the Central Council of "Civil Forum" The Central Council of the Citizens Forum Republican Public Youth Organization at its meeting on November 25, 2019 decided that: • The parliamentary elections in Belarus on November 12-17, 2019 were held with gross violations of the Electoral Code, laws and the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus. Elections cannot be called vowels and transparent • The level of organization of the electoral process and, in particular, the counting of votes does not comply with international legal acts • Independent observers were faced with facts of pressure, could not fully carry out their election monitoring function. • The facts of unacceptable pressure on the electorate during the early voting, coercion against voters were recorded. Based on the foregoing, we decide that elections can not be recognized as democratic and in accordance with national and international legal acts..

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