MINSK, 2 February (BelTA) – Belarus is not planning to open polling stations abroad for the referendum on constitutional amendments, Anatoly Glaz, Head of the Information and Digital Diplomacy Office, Press Secretary of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a press conference in Minsk on 2 February, BelTA has learned.
According to the Election Code, a decision to open a polling station outside Belarus is taken by the head of an embassy or a consulate, Anatoly Glaz noted. When deciding on the opening of a polling site, several factors are taken into account: from the number of citizens on the consular register to the epidemiological situation.
“Safety of both voters and members of the commission, diplomats and employees takes the absolute priority," Anatoly Glaz emphasized. "To date, more than a third of foreign missions have not set up polling stations due to the small number of citizens on consular register”
“In Lithuania and Latvia, in the wake of their actions, there is just not enough personnel to man a polling site,” Anatoly Glaz noted. “Many embassies and consulates have decided not to jeopardize the health of staff and voters due to the uptake in the COVID-19 cases in host countries. In a number of countries, the level of clinically confirmed cases of a new variant of coronavirus has increased tenfold, and strict restrictions have been imposed on the movement of people between regions.”
"There is another reason. During the previous election campaign, members of election commissions and employees of foreign missions received numerous threats, faced many provocations, hooligan and extremist attacks. It would be very naïve to believe that the heads of our foreign missions will turn a blind eye to the completely negligent attitude of a number of EU countries to their obligations to ensure the security of diplomatic missions," Anatoly Glaz said.
He recalled that from August 2020 to December 2021, more than 20 acts of aggression were committed against Belarusian diplomats. The buildings and property of some diplomatic missions have been vandalized and damaged. There were direct attacks on Belarusian diplomats and embassies in the UK, Poland, France, Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Lithuania.
"Those attacks included serious bodily harm, arson, damage to state property and so on. But most importantly, with rare exceptions, the authorities of the host countries did not bring to justice the perpetrators, and sometimes did not even search for them. It is clear that this is either the inability or unwillingness of individual EU countries to fulfill their, one might say, sacred obligations,” he said. "Against this background, the heads of some embassies and consulates made a completely logical and reasonable decision not to set up polling stations due to uncertainty about their security and safety."
All this in no way infringes upon the constitutional right of Belarusian citizens to take part in the upcoming referendum, Anatoly Glaz said. Traditionally, the share of voters abroad is less than 1%.
"Those who are temporarily living abroad will be able to vote at the place of registration in Belarus, and those residing permanently with a PP series passport - at a polling station at the place of temporary registration or the place of last residence in the Republic of Belarus. We would like to remind you that for citizens of Belarus there are no entry restrictions both through land and air checkpoints. They are not required to take a PCR test to enter the country," Anatoly Glaz added.
