Belarus chief elections official promises next vote count be visible to observers

Chairwoman of the Belarus Central Election Commission, Lidziya Yarmoshyna has promised to develop before the next elections a layout of the electoral commission members for the vote count to be visible to observers.

“In principle, I think that it should be done as follows: you have to count all the ballots on one side of the table (facing the observers – Ed.). Not surrounding the table, as we have seen,” said Lidziya Yarmoshyna in an online interview on the portal tut.by.

According to the CEC head, the proposal would satisfy both observers and members of election commissions, interfax.by reports.

“We need to think about a methodological layout before the next election (for counting ballots – Ed.) if the electoral commissions do not show common sense in this matter,” the official added.

The presidential elections in Belarus were held on October 11, and according to official figures, the head of Belarus Alyaksandr Lukashenka won it with 83.47% of the votes. One of the main claims of the OSCE observers before the last election was the lack of transparency of the vote count at some polling stations.

Belsat.eu, via interfax.by