Belarus Votes: Authorities forcing convicts to vote early?


In a letter to belsat.eu, a man who is serving his sentence in an open correctional facility claims that convicts are being forced to take part in early voting.

“Today we, convicts, have been forced to vote early. They [administration] threatened to draw up a protocol n violation on those who would refuse to cast their vote. Everyone knows that it is a breach of the law, but no one can do anything, everyone is afraid. I ask you to publish my story,” our reader said in his email.

If you witness cases of election fraud, write us: belsat.eu@gmail.com

In Belarus, 20-30% of voters usually go to the polls during the period of early voting. At the 2010 presidential elections, over 23.1% cast their votes in advance.

However, according to independent observers and human rights watchdogs, early voting makes it possible to rig elections in Belarus. According to them, every time Belarusian military, students and civil servants are forced to vote early.

Human rights activists urge to use a mobile app that helps to report violations. The campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” has also opened a hotline for reporting violations during the parliamentary elections.

More than 500 candidates are running for 110 seats in the House of Representatives. The election is to be held on September, 11.

belsat.eu

TWITTER