Belarus parliament elections
OSCE ODIHR mission in Belarus to announce preliminary findings on 18 November
MINSK, 17 November (BelTA) – The election observation mission deployed by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to monitor Belarus’ parliamentary elections will hold a press conference on preliminary findings and conclusions on 18 November, head of the mission Cornelia Willemien Anke Jonke told reporters on 17 November, BelTA has learned.
The OSCE ODIHR election observation mission comprises long-term observers. They started working on 15 October and will stay in Belarus till the end of November. “We monitored the administration of election procedures, including early voting. We will also monitor the post-election period. Early voting is just the tip of the iceberg, therefore it is too early to talk about the entire electoral process, because we want to get a complete picture first. First of all, we will put together all observers’ reports and then we will be able to make conclusions about the electoral process. At the press conference tomorrow we will talk about the general picture, including our assessment of the period preceding the elections, early voting and the election day process,” she informed.
The mission’s interlocutors are all election stakeholders. “We want to have a 360-degree view of the electoral process. We have different views and assessments of the process. Tomorrow we will talk about them in detail, while the final report will contain our conclusions,” Cornelia Willemien Anke Jonker said. She added that the mission comprises 400 observers. Short-term observers will leave the country right after the elections.
Early voting kicked off on 12 November and lasted through 16 November. According to the Central Election Commission, an estimated 35.77% of voters cast their ballots during the five days of early voting.
A total of 110 constituencies were formed for the elections to the House of Representatives. An estimated 5,831 polling stations were opened, including 46 abroad.
Parliament members are elected for four-year terms under a one-round majoritarian system in single-mandate constituencies. The law establishes a 50% turnout requirement for elections in each district to be valid. The candidate with the most votes is elected.
Voting is running from 8.00 till 20.00. However, polling stations in military units, sanatoriums, hospitals, and other healthcare organizations may declare voting finished before 20.00 once all registered voters have cast their ballots.
Voters are issued a ballot paper upon presenting a valid passport of the Republic of Belarus, a civil servant identification card, a student identification card, a driver’s license, a military service card for active-duty military personnel, a pensioner identification card or a disabled identification card with a photo, a temporary certificate issued by the police to citizens who have lost their passports.
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