Republic
16.11.2006
Abolishing the minimum turnout rule in elections at all levels will affect the legitimacy of the Belarusian government in the eyes of both the international community and the Belarusian citizens, said Lidia Yermoshina, chairman of the central election commission of Belarus, when commenting upon the decision of the Russian Duma to abolish the minimal turnout rule at all levels.
The Belarusian official believes doing this in Belarus would be inappropriate. This issue is not planned to be considered in the future, she added.
According to Lidia Yermoshina, any body of authority should be representative but this is possible only in case the body represents interests of the entire society rather than interests of a small group of people. In case of abolishment of the minimum turnout rule, a situation may occur when a small number of citizens, who take part in the voting, decide upon the future of the entire country.
Also this step risks damaging liaison between the society and the state.
Lidia Yermoshina is confident that one of the ways to make the turnout bigger is to encourage people to exercise their constitutional right. If such problems exist, than perhaps it is worth thinking of introducing amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which would make voting compulsory rather than non-compulsory as it is now, Lidia Yermoshina said.