Rehearsal organised this week on threshold of elections, notes Chair of Central Election Commission (CEC) Lidia Yermoshina

Brief results before the final

Rehearsal organised this week on threshold of elections, notes Chair of Central Election Commission (CEC) Lidia Yermoshina
Rehearsal organised this week on threshold of elections, notes Chair of Central Election Commission (CEC) Lidia Yermoshina


Lidia Yermoshina details election preparations


Ms. Yermoshina has announced a general rehearsal to check communication tools for use by all election commissions in advance of polling day. On October 5th, all election commissions transfered information to the CEC on the number of observers registered at each polling station, as well as information on the number of ballot boxes, including those which are transparent, and the number of received polling papers, accredited observers and other data.

The aim was to ensure efficiency. The recent campaign address was placed on the CEC website on October 5th, with the Chair of the Central Election Commission giving preliminary results on the election campaign. Some have already been voiced, such as information on the first round of elections.

The election campaign is using some innovations, including personal funding by candidates and transparent ballot boxes in the Vitebsk Region. Is the political culture of election participants changing with time?

Mr. Yermoshina tells us with a smile, “I’d like to tell you something amusing. I received a complaint against myself, which may show the level of political culture of the person concerned. They said that one of the observers from Gomel had demanded from the Central Election Commission the ‘suppression of illegal activity of unknown people who were spreading illegal propaganda materials’.”

She continues, “The ‘illegal propaganda materials’ were information materials describing the candidates for the position of President. In other words, everything was legal, produced by the Central Election Commission and officially spread via Belpochta enterprise.”

However, Ms. Yermoshina is inclined to believe that the political and legal literacy of both candidates and the public have significantly risen.

“These days, people are more aware of the subtleties and nuances of electoral legislation. The legal literacy of those collecting signatures and those who offer them has increased, while political culture is directly connected with human personal culture. If a candidate for the President is cultured in themselves, all else will follow.”


WORD-FOR-WORD


Lidia Yermoshina, Chair of the Central Election Commission, speaks about opportunities for propaganda on the day before the elections:

We don’t have any ‘day of silence’. This is absent in our legislation, so there are no bans. However, the law directly stipulates that propaganda is forbidden on Election Day.
By Marat Orekhov
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