Svetlana Tichanowskaja, the main opponent of the duration of ruler Alexandr Lukashenka in the presidential election in Belarus, thrilled the crowds with a Call for change, Dignity and freedom. In addition, Tichanowskaja has a relatively technical topic: it advises the good 6.8 million eligible voters, only at the main election day, this coming Sunday, vote, and, in any case, the “early voting” to participate.
Friedrich Schmidt
Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.
F. A. Z.
The move draws attention to the pseudo-democratic moves, with which autocrats seek to legitimize their Power. The “premature” Select on is in Belarus on a multi-day election: Five whole days, from Tuesday to Saturday, open most of the 5767 polling stations, respectively, from 10 to 14 and from 16 to 19 PM; exceptions are made for polling stations in hospitals or sanatoria, the really open only on Sunday.
The “early voting” is, according to Tichanowskaja a gateway for counterfeiting, to the benefit Lukaschenkas, the leads of Belarus since 1994. During the election campaign continues to run, to flow droves of voters to the polls. The state television is expected to show how celebrities and officials to choose at an early stage and the programme of the incumbent, praise: Such is documented in the report of the organization for security and cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the Belarusian presidential election in 2015.
at the Time, a good 36 percent of the voters voted according to the Central election Commission “in advance”. In the case of the presidential election in 2010 – according to which Lukashenka mass protests against falsifications beat down and his main opponents for years and years in prison was – there were officially just under 28 percent. From the OSCE Reports in the two elections, a wide range of manipulation possibilities, thanks to the “early voting”. So vote Multiple times possible; are police officers urns alone at night with a puny sealed; to be urged groups of people such as students to vote, and complaints routinely without Investigation, dismissed, noted the OSCE for the election in 2015.
The OSCE expresses concern
the observation missions competent OSCE office for democratic institutions and human rights (ODIHR) had observed every national election in Belarus since 2001. With a view on the overall electoral process, the observers of the 2010 and 2015 is found worthy of so much Criticism, that they saw the “confidence in the elections” and their “integrity dig”.
this year, However, in which Lukashenka with the unprecedented mobilization of hundreds of thousands of fights Belarusians who want a democratic revolution, wants to risk the Regime is no such well-founded criticism: It has invited the OSCE observers formally, the Mission is prevented. The criticized the ODIHR Director, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, in mid-July in a statement and expressed also concerned about the intimidation and detention of numerous opposition in Belarus. To the Latter count, several men who prevented the Regime against Lukashenka, the video blogger Sergei Tichanowskij, now his wife takes to compete, among them.