Belarusian Popular Front leader to contest official vote results in Minsk district

Minsk

Vintsuk Vyachorka, leader of the Belarusian Popular Front, has announced plans to contest the results of elections for the Minsk City Soviet in the Miroshnichenkovsky district.

The politician, who was one of the four candidates on the ballot in the district, that independent observers had reported grave violations on the part of precinct election commissions in the district.

In particular, observer Vladimir Gudkov said that the number of cast ballots announced by the election commission at a polling station in the number 148 school of general education was far more than the actual figure.

According to election monitor Stanislav Bogdanov, poll workers went door to door with a mobile ballot box on the main voting day, January 14. Apart from this, he added, observers were not allowed to monitor the vote count process.

The district commission announced that Mr. Vyachorka had won between seven and 22 percent of the vote at different polling stations.

At one polling station, where 418 ballots were cast, Mr. Vyachorka gained 14.1 percent of the vote, way below his main rival, businessman Vladimir Goloburda, who won 54.5 percent. Businesswoman Irina Fefyolova came third with 12.9 percent and United Civic Party member Lidiya Sitova was the last with five percent.

Mr. Vyachorka appeared to have taken the official results of the vote calmly. "At some precincts I collected more voter signatures in the 2004 parliamentary elections than they (the election authorities) gave me votes this time. But I'm not going to tear my hair as it was not an election," the politician stressed.