The legal basis of the People’s poll

The Supreme Soviet (Parliament of Belarus) of the 12th convocation has created a legal basis of the Constitution of Belarus of 1994. In accordance with these legal norms the people and the state bodies elected by the people have right to improve the situation if some state body would deform the Law and act against the national interests. The Supreme Soviet has elaborated the norms of the electoral Law: the electors have the right to express their opinion and to vote freely; the official control of the elector’s poll is forbidden; the Central Electoral Commission and local electoral commissions cannot be controlled by the state structures. The term of the Supreme Soviet is 5 years. The same person can occupy the presidential function not more than two terms (one presidential term is 5 years). The Constitution sanctions a system of the restrictions and counterbalances of the legislative and executive power as well as the independence of the juridical power.
Lukashenka has violated all the democratic norms of the Constitution by his three illegitimate referendums (May 1995, November 1996 and October 2004). All the state bodies, the Central Electoral Commission and local electoral commissions act as the departments of the Lukashenka’s administration.

The Constitution has the article 3: “The people are the unique source and the bearer of the sovereignty in the Republic of Belarus. The people execute its power directly, through the representative and other bodies in accordance with the Constitution.

Every action directed to the change of the constitutional order and to the seizure of the state power by the violent methods as well as by other violation of the Belarusan laws are punished in accordance with the Law”.
In accordance with the art. 3 of the Constitution the people has the direct right to defend its interests if the state administration would violate the Law. The people has right on the People’s Poll on March 19, 2006 in accordance with this natural right established by the art. 3 of the Constitution.

The Constitution of Belarus has the norms which secure the free expression of the elector’s will on the poll. These norms are illustrated in the articles 65 and 68 of the Constitution of Belarus:
“Article 65. The elections are free: the elector decides personally if he/she would participate in the elections and who vote.
The elections are prepared and launched openly and publicly”.
“Article 68. The poll on the elections is secret: it is forbidden to control the expression of the elector’s will during the poll”.

These norms are included into the Electoral Codex, art.5 and 9.

It is necessary to take into consideration that the elections are carried on at the expense of the people (the state budget). This is the affair of the whole people.

Thus the elector will act legally on the People’s Poll when he/she will take the regime’s voting paper (in order to hand it over to the National Civic Commission) and cast his/her voting paper (prepared in advance the People’s voting paper) into the ballot-box.

Every method used in order to control or to hinder the elector when he/she is expressing his/her free will on the poll is illegal and punished in accordance with the following articles of the Criminal Codex:
Art. 191: “The hindrance of the execution of electoral rights or the activity of the electoral commission”.
Art. 192: “The violation of the electoral Law”.
Art. 185: “The compulsion”.

We appeal all the citizens to use their legal right in order to defend their own and national interests. March 19, 2006 we have to come to the polling station, to obtain the regime’s voting paper, sign the list of the electors, enter the ballot cabin, place the regime’s voting paper into the pocket and to cast the People’s voting paper with the name of his candidate (or a clean leaf) into the ballot-box.

We emphasize that the poll is secret. Nobody has the right to interfere into the process of the poll, to advise the elector who to vote or to control the poll or to demand the elector to show his/her voting paper, and especially to threaten the elctors. After the elector will obtain the official voting paper this voting paper becomes the elector’s property as well as his/her material embodiment of elector’s right to the secret poll. The elector disposes freely this right.
After the elections (after the poll) it is necessary to hand over the official voting paper to the representatives of the National Civic Commission (NCC).

Only these resolute actions (not the support of Kazulin or Milinkevich on the pseudo-elections as well as the boycott) will avert the regime’s tactic of electoral frauds, destroy the Lukashenka’s mechanism of falsifications and to expel Lukashenka from the electoral process. These legal actions will ruin the Moscow’s plans to occupy Belarus and give the possibility to launch the new democratic elections without Lukashenka.

The coordination body of the National Civic Commission
February 3, 2006

3/2/2006 › English