Belarusian Elections: Art of Falsification

Today's parliamentary elections are the simplest for Belarusian election committees. Because the majority of the opposition has boycotted the elections, the election committees have almost no need to rig the votes. In any event, when neither the observers nor even individual members of election committees have access the final count, it is difficult to have unexpected results.

The elections in Belarus last paradoxically long — for 6 days — for two main reasons. First, the authorities get time to increase the turnout under threats of dismissal, problems at educational institutions or eviction from dormitories. Second, such a prolonged snap poll gives them enough time to falsify the results. The author of this article has been working as an observer for these elections over the last six days, based at one of the polling stations outside Minsk and trying to figure out what is hidden behind the red curtain.

A typical polling station in Belarus is an ordinary school classroom. A policeman is standing nearby, “on the watch for the process.” From time to time they sit directly at the polling station for the whole day and which constitutes a violation of Belarusian law. Police explain that they should watch the threat posed by independent observers.

In Belarus, standard ballot boxes are made of wood, thus, they are non-transparent. The commission chairman agreed during the first meeting with the author that it is rather easy to add extra ballots because of large holes in ballot boxes. The author together with the election commission’s Chairman solved the problem by sealing them up with plasticine.

Election Commission vs. Independent Observers

An election commission consists approximately of 10 members. Employees of various organisations, political parties and public organisations nominate them. It is also possible to do so by collecting signatures. Then the Central Election Commission headed by Lidzija Jarmoshyna declines unreliable candidates. Naturally enough, opposition representatives are among them.

This time there are only 48 opposition representatives who managed enroll the local election comissions, which constitutes just 3.3 per cent of the total number. It is interesting that members of the commissions remain almost the same from election to election. Only ideologically reliable people can stay there for so long.

As opposition-minded people are not likely to appear in the election committees, the opposition has to “advance the troops of observers.” Despite the small amount of members, they act quite efficiently. Even secretary of the Central Election Committee Mikalaj Lazavik admitted that he begins his day from browsing the human rights web-sites for Belarusian election news.

The relations between the election committee and independent observers are tense for an obvious reason: if falsifications are revealed, members of the election committee may (at least in theory) face criminal charges. In accordance with their dislike of democratic institutions, their hostile attitude becomes clear. The election committees sometimes ask for the removal of observers when the latter notice irregularities.

Dealing with the Low Turnout

Parliamentary elections in Belarus are far from being popular. The parliament does not play any role other than the ceremonial one in Belarusian politics. Just look at the figures: the House of Representatives (the lower chamber of Belarusian parliament) has prepared only three bills in the last four years. The rest came from the Presidential Administration to be rubber-stamped. The opposition boycott also contributed to the low turnout.

After a four-day poll in Belarus, 20 per cent of the electors had already voted. These figures are two times lower at the polling stations with independent observers where it is more difficult for election committees to allow voting on behalf of a whole family.

The latter is, by the way, a widespread practice in Belarus to relieve them of their obligation. When observers cannot see it, committees may allow them to vote for their relatives. Otherwise they say it is illegal. It looks most ridiculous when voters ask why it was permitted during the presidential election in 2010 but not this time.

Many state enterprise directors make their workers vote in advance, giving them permit for early leave in order to “do their civil duty.” One woman, who came to vote at the author’s polling station, even asked to give her a special confirmation document to show her boss.

The less popular, but more effective governmental method is called “carousel.” This means the situation when people are gathered in groups, put into the bus and driven to the polling station. On Wednesday one such a “carousel” was uncovered at a polling station in Minsk. According to independent observer Aliaksandr Marchanka, around 100 people came to the polling station by buses and refused to show their passports to observers to prove that they are entitled to vote at that particular station.

The administrations of Belarusian universities also made their students vote early. In these cases they often provide students with additional days off. If students live in a subsidised dormitory, the dorm administration makes them vote in advance under the threat to be driven out of the dormitory the next year. At campus in Horki, Homiel region, 883 of 1,600 people voted at one polling station on Tuesday, the first early voting day. Most of them were students.

The Ultimate Counting Magic

Counting votes is the most stressful moment of any elections. It is even more stressful in case of falsifications in Belarus.

When the polling station closes for voters, each member of an election committee gets several hundred ballots to count. Afterwards, he or she writes down the voting result on a sheet of paper and passes it to the committee chairperson in silence. All other members of the election committee do the same. Thus, nobody announces their results. Members of an election committee do not even know the results of their colleagues’ counting.

Finally the chairperson announces the overall result. At the same time, the observers have no way to verify the figures. Belarusian democratic activists often call chairperson officers magicians for such tricks. The only difference is that magicians pull rabbits out of their hats, while commission Chairperson pulls election results.

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