MINSK, 22 February (BelTA) - The voting process in the country is going normal, Chairman of the Belarusian Central Election Commission of Belarus Igor Karpenko told reporters, BelTA has learned.
"As of yesterday evening, the turnout for early voting was 14.61%. This is a fairly high voter turnout. It is gratifying that young people are coming to the polls. By the way, thanks to mass media, we get such interesting pictures from polling stations. People are in high spirits. The Central Election Commission receives a lot of calls. We keep in touch with regional election commissions. In fact, I am in touch with all the regional and Minsk City election commissions every day. In general, we can assess the electoral process as going normal so far. No statements, no fake news have affected in any way the voting process," Igor Karpenko said.
“People are coming to the polls. They have the freedom of choice. They can freely vote either against all or for a particular candidate. Everyone makes an informed choice at every polling station. So did I."
The CEC head stressed that 45,505 national observers are currently working in the country. "These are a huge number. The public observation center was deployed. We are grateful to them, because we discuss and interact with them on some issues. In addition, 294 international observers have been accredited in the country as of today. For all those abroad who are lamenting the absence of the OSCE, the European Union I can say that we have accredited 23 international experts from Poland, Lithuania, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy. Therefore, don't worry. There are election observers from the EU countries," he added.
