Presidential election 2025 in Belarus

Belarus' CEC blames long queues outside polling stations on provocations

Lidia Yermoshina

MINSK, 9 August (BelTA) – Queues outside polling stations are the result of provocations. Chairwoman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus Lidia Yermoshina made the statement on the air of the Belarusian TV channel STV, BelTA has learned.

Speaking about the situation with Belarusian voters having to queue to cast their votes, Lidia Yermoshina stressed that everything would have been fine if not for the deliberate provocations that the so-called protest voters had been taught how to stage via Telegram channels.

Lidia Yermoshina said: “What did they teach these protest voters? Come and occupy a voting booth for half an hour. This is what's happening. This is why the throughput capacity of polling stations is small.” Lidia Yermoshina described actions of these people as genuine sabotage, an organized provocation. “It has resulted in very long queues outside polling stations,” the official believes.

“It was all developed by political engineers, who are close and, as a matter of fact, financed by the former campaign office of Babariko,” Lidia Yermoshina said.

Apart from that, some voters choose to deliberately spoil ballots. “They spoil one, come to get another one, and spoil it, too. Election commissions don't have a large supply of reserve ballots. It is also a provocation,” Lidia Yermoshina said.

Lidia Yermoshina is convinced that the already impressive voter turnout would have been higher if people were not stopped at the entrance of the polling stations. “These saboteurs don't let them in. It is the power of the protest voters, their attitude, their honesty towards the own state. And possibly the honesty of the candidate they support. It is total irresponsibility that, as a matter of fact, prevents other people from casting their votes,” the head of the Belarusian election organization agency warned.

Lidia Yermoshina reminded that polling stations will close at 20:00 in any case. “And the election will be recognized as valid anyway. Regardless of any actions meant to disrupt or discredit the election,” the chairwoman of the Central Election Commission concluded.

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