Voters' complaint against presidential election filed with Supreme Court

Belarusian opposition leaders filed a complaint with the Supreme Court against the official outcome of the March presidential election that gave Aleksandr Lukashenko a victory with 83 percent of the vote.

“We demand a fresh election,” independent unionist Aleksandr Bukhvostov who coordinated the signature collection campaign told BelaPAN.

The complaint bears more than 5,900 signatures collected among voters. It was sent along with a package of documents allegedly confirming that the election had been marred by irregularities.

Mr. Bukhvostov said that he expected the court to reject the demand. He warned that a similar appeal might be filed with an international body, such as the UN Human Rights Committee.

The Supreme Court has a month to examine them. According to Mr. Bukhvostov, the constitution and the law governing the handling of people's complaints requires the Supreme Court to study such an appeal.

Aleksandr Milinkevich and Aleksandr Kozulin, two opposition candidates that ran against Mr. Lukashenko, appealed to the Supreme Court to invalidate the incumbent's victory shortly after the election. The request was rejected because regulations currently in force ban contesting the central election commission's decisions.