Igor Karpenko. An archive photo
MINSK, 31 January (BelTA) – For 30 years Belarus has been told by outsiders that its electoral system is flawed, Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus Igor Karpenko said in an interview with the ONT TV channel, BelTA reports.
“When we were preparing for the constitutional referendum in 2022, we closely monitored efforts to develop amendments and additions to the Constitution, we analyzed the work of the Constitutional Commission. After all, we had to make adjustments to the Electoral Code together with deputies, public figures, and subjects of the electoral process. We studied the practices of our closest neighbors. That's when the idea was born to introduce continuous training of potential election organizers. Indeed, look: almost 60,000 people worked in election commissions,” Igor Karpenko said.
In Russia, there is a training center under the Central Election Commission. “We took a different path (I used to be education minister and I knew what it takes to create an educational institution from scratch, and I also doubted that it was really needed). We suggested that the Academy of Public Administration under the Aegis of the President of Belarus should deal with this, and our proposal was upheld by the Belarus President Administration. After all, this is an educational institution with experience in scientific, methodological, pedagogical and educational work; it has the necessary documents to open a particular specialty, a curriculum, program, etc. We set up a small public outreach branch there. In our opinion, we made the right decision,” the head of the CEC noted.
According to him, Chairperson of the Russian CEC Ella Pamfilova noted that Belarus chose an optimal path by creating a system to train potential election organizers.
“The issue of restoring trust in the electoral system is also important. We have also analyzed it,” added the head of the Central Election Commission. “Please note that for 30 years after the election of the president of a sovereign state, we have been constantly browbeaten by outside powers into accepting the thesis that our electoral system is deeply flawed. They said that everything was wrong with us. And in this presidential election, questions were again raised, for example, about curtains. But I want to ask a counter question: are there such curtains in these electoral systems that they are trying to force upon us?”
“When we were preparing for the constitutional referendum in 2022, we closely monitored efforts to develop amendments and additions to the Constitution, we analyzed the work of the Constitutional Commission. After all, we had to make adjustments to the Electoral Code together with deputies, public figures, and subjects of the electoral process. We studied the practices of our closest neighbors. That's when the idea was born to introduce continuous training of potential election organizers. Indeed, look: almost 60,000 people worked in election commissions,” Igor Karpenko said.
In Russia, there is a training center under the Central Election Commission. “We took a different path (I used to be education minister and I knew what it takes to create an educational institution from scratch, and I also doubted that it was really needed). We suggested that the Academy of Public Administration under the Aegis of the President of Belarus should deal with this, and our proposal was upheld by the Belarus President Administration. After all, this is an educational institution with experience in scientific, methodological, pedagogical and educational work; it has the necessary documents to open a particular specialty, a curriculum, program, etc. We set up a small public outreach branch there. In our opinion, we made the right decision,” the head of the CEC noted.
According to him, Chairperson of the Russian CEC Ella Pamfilova noted that Belarus chose an optimal path by creating a system to train potential election organizers.
“The issue of restoring trust in the electoral system is also important. We have also analyzed it,” added the head of the Central Election Commission. “Please note that for 30 years after the election of the president of a sovereign state, we have been constantly browbeaten by outside powers into accepting the thesis that our electoral system is deeply flawed. They said that everything was wrong with us. And in this presidential election, questions were again raised, for example, about curtains. But I want to ask a counter question: are there such curtains in these electoral systems that they are trying to force upon us?”
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