Karpenko: it’s unacceptable to use the electoral system for anti-state purposes

Chairman of the Central Election Commission of Belarus Igor Karpenko told journalists about this today before the CEC meeting

The Head of the Central Election Commission underlined, “What happened in 2020 is really an attempted coup, so, of course, this cannot be allowed, especially to use the electoral system for such purposes. It is no coincidence that the theme of electoral sovereignty appeared in the National Security Concept as an inalienable right of the state to conduct electoral campaigns independently, without interference, any instructions and funding from outside. We are carefully studying the experience of our neighbours not only within the framework of bilateral meetings. Our representatives are actively involved in election observations. Recently, our representatives were in Kazakhstan, now a delegation is going to Uzbekistan to observe the constitutional referendum.”

Igor Karpenko also recalled that a co-ordinating council of electoral bodies has been established in the CIS, “I think that its meeting will also be planned in the near future, and a programme of its work will be formed. This will be a platform enabling us to share experiences, including how to secure our electoral systems from attempts of external interference and pressure. Although a lot has already been done. Changes and additions to the Electoral Code have come into force. Today we are holding a meeting just in the development of the code.”

At the meeting, held with the participation of the First Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration, Maksim Ryzhenkov, representatives of the Academy of Public Administration under the aegis of the President, the Republican Institute of Higher Education, issues related to the work of the Centre for Work with the Population and Electoral Technologies of the Academy of Public Administration under the aegis of the President were considered. A number of local documents were also considered and adopted, including the procedure for accreditation of media representatives, the provisions on the Certificate of Honour of the Central Election Commission and the Chairman’s Gratitude.