Home > 1.3 Free suffrage > BELARUS - Electoral Code
 
 
 
Download file    
 
 
Article 55
 
Count of Votes at the Polling Station during Elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus, Deputies of the Chamber of Representatives and Deputies of Local Councils of Deputies and the Referendum
 
Ballot boxes shall be opened by the precinct commission after the chairman of the commission declares the end of voting. It shall be prohibited to open ballot boxes before the end of voting. Before opening of the ballot boxes, all unused ballot papers for elections and referendum shall be counted and cancelled, put into a package and sealed by the precinct commission. The precinct commissions shall define the method of cancellation of ballot papers. The packages shall have written on them the name and the number of the station and the number of unused ballot papers on elections and referendum. The chairman and the secretary of the precinct commission shall sign the packages in presence of the members of the commission.
 
Opening of ballot boxes and count of votes during holding of elections or referendum shall be performed turn by turn: first shall be counted the ballot papers kept in the ballot box used during early voting, then those kept in portable boxes used for voting at the place of stay of electors or participants in the referendum and, after that, in ballot boxes kept on the day of elections or referendum in the room of the polling station.
 
Count of votes of electors or participants in the referendum must be performed directly by the members of the precinct commission without a break until the results of voting have been obtained.
 
In case of elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus or a deputy of the Chamber of Representatives the count of votes at the polling station shall be performed separately for each candidate for the position of the President and for deputy of the Chamber of Representatives whereas in case of elections of deputies of local Councils of Deputies – separately for each electoral district and each candidate for deputy for elections to the respective local Council of Deputies.
 
The precinct commission shall establish, according to the list of citizens who have the right to take part in elections or referendum, the total number of electors or participants in the referendum at the precinct whereas in case of elections for local Councils of Deputies – for each electoral district as well as the number of electors or participants in the referendum who have received ballot papers.
 
On the basis of the ballot papers kept in the ballot boxes specified in part two of this article the precinct commission shall determine, first separately and then by summing up the data:
in case of elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus and deputies of the Chamber of Representatives – the total number of electors who have taken part in the voting; the number of votes cast for and the number of votes casts against each candidate for the position of the President and deputies; and the number of ballot papers recognised as invalid;
in case of elections of deputies of local Councils of Deputies – for each electoral district, the total number of electors who have taken part in the voting, the number of votes cast for and the number of votes casts against each candidate for deputy and deputies and the number of ballot papers recognised as invalid;
in case of a referendum - the total number of participants in the referendum who have taken part in the voting, the number of participants in the referendum who voted for the approval of the question (draft of the decision) proposed for the referendum and the number of those who votes against its approval, and the number of ballot papers recognised as invalid.
 
In case of elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus and deputies of the Chamber of Representatives and deputies of local Councils of Deputies votes shall not be counted for the surnames of citizens additionally written by electors into the ballot papers.
 
After the beginning of the count of votes it shall be prohibited to make changes in the lists of citizens who have the right to take part in elections or referendum.
 
In case of elections or referendum, ballot papers different from the established sample, ballot papers having no signatures of the persons who are members of the precinct commission on their reverse side shall be recognised as invalid, and in case of the holding of elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus and deputies of the Chamber of Representatives and deputies of local Councils of Deputies also ballot papers in which, as a result of voting, more than one candidate has been left and in case of the referendum – also ballot papers in which during the vote more than one candidate have been left or if in the ballot papers none of the two words "for" or "against" have been crossed out whereas in case of the holding of a referendum – also ballot papers in which none of the variants of answers or both of the variants have been crossed out. In case of doubts as to the validity of the ballot paper the precinct commission shall solve the issue by voting.
 
When decision is taken to recognise a ballot paper invalid, the precinct commission shall show on its reverse side causes of invalidity. This writing shall be certified by signatures of not less than two persons who are members of the precinct commission. Invalid ballot papers shall be packed separately.
 
The results of the vote count shall be considered at a sitting of the precinct commission and shall be written in a record. In addition to the data stipulated in parts five and six of this article, the record shall also specify the number of ballot papers received by the precinct commission, the number of spoiled ballot papers and the number of unused ballot papers. In case of elections of local Councils of Deputies, records shall be made separately for each electoral district. When two or more referendums are held at the same time, a record shall be filled for each of them separately. It shall not be allowed to fill the minutes with a pencil or make in it any corrections whatsoever. The minutes shall be signed by the chairman, the deputy chairman, the secretary and the members of the commission.
 
In case of elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus or the Republican or the Oblast or Minsk City referendum, the records shall be immediately submitted in person by the chairman or the deputy chairman or the secretary of the precinct commission to the respective regional, town or town district commission on elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus and on the referendum whereas in case of elections of deputies of the Chamber of Representatives or deputies of local Councils of deputies to the respective district or territorial electoral commission as well as to the body that formed the commission for information. The record forwarded to the superior commission shall include, if any, special opinions of the members of the commission, declarations of the proxies of candidates and other persons on violations committed in the course of voting or during the count of votes and decisions take on them by the commission.
 
A copy of the minutes of the precinct commission after its signing shall be displayed in the place established by the commission for familiarisation by everyone.
 

When the body that formed the commission detects violations of the requirements of this Code and of other legislative acts of the Republic of Belarus made in the course of the voting or during the count of votes this shall be immediately notified to the superior electoral commission or the commission on the referendum or the Central Commission.