Meetings with police officers and investigators. How is the Central Electoral Commission preparing for the elections*?
The official website of the Central Election Commission (CEC) reported that the chairman of the CEC of Belarus, Ihar Karpenka, recently met with representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee. It is reported that they discussed ensuring public order at polling stations and measures to ensure the safety of organizers and participants of the electoral process.
The CEC website says that on December 12, the chairman of the CEC of Belarus informed the staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs about the preparations for the single voting day and the specifics of its organization. At the meeting with employees of the internal affairs bodies, issues of ensuring public order at polling stations during the election campaign were also discussed.
On December 7, Ihar Karpenka met with employees of the central office of the Investigative Committee. The dialogue was joined by employees of the departments for the regions and the city of Minsk and the teaching staff of the Institute of the Investigative Committee via a video call. It is reported that Karpenka informed investigators about the specifics of holding elections of deputies on a single voting day and about the measures taken to ensure the safety of organizers and participants of the electoral process.
Recall that on November 21, before the first meeting of the CEC, Karpenka said that during the preparation of the 2024 election campaign, a number of issues had already been worked out with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the security issue was under Lukashenka's control:
"But we must understand that, in general, ensuring security and public order during such important political campaigns as elections is not only the task of the CEC, but also of all involved state authorities. We discussed this issue with the head of state, and it is under the control of both the president and law enforcement agencies. We will try to ensure that everything goes smoothly and the people can freely engage in their activities and speak out in support of certain candidates."
Recently, human rights activists of Viasna learned that searches and inspections of former observers at the presidential elections in 2020 have been taking place throughout Belarus for several days. The law enforcers check phones and warn of criminal liability for "facilitating extremist activities." They also record "penitential" videos with former observers.