District Election Commission In Baranavichy Prohibits Observer To Take Pictures

• 14.07.2016, 12:12

In the opinion of the Deputy Chairperson of the commission, the observer violated the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus.

Siarhei Housha is registered as an observer in the district elections commisison of Baranavichy-Southertn electoral district #5. According to him, on July 8 he tried to take picutres of the moment of voting during the session of the commission. However, the Chairperson of the commission prohibited him to take pictures, having referred to the Constitution, writes intex-press.by.

The next day, Siarhei filed a request to the district commission, asking to clarify under which article of the Constitution he was banned from photographing and whether this decision met Article 65 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, which says “The elections are free: voters decide whether to participate thereof and whom to vote for by themselves”.

On July 12, he received an official reply signed by Alena Herman, the Deputy Chairperson of the elections commission. The reply said the prohibition was based on Article 53 of the Constitution “Everyone must respect the dignity, rights, freedoms and legal interests of others”.

Siarhei Housha filed a complaint against the actions of Baranavichy elections commission to Brest regional elections commission, which is authoritzed of abolishing the decision on ban of audio and video recordings.

– My actions in no way interfered with the commission’s work, and I consider their reply juridically ignorant,” – the observer has clarified.