Six thousand Belarusians appeal the results of the March elections

A collective citizens’ appeal has been lodged in the Belarusian Supreme Court demanding that the official outcome of the 2006 presidential elections be declared invalid. According to ITAR-TASS citing information from the Belarusian United Civic Party, the document has been signed by 5,993 people..

The appellants are calling on the Supreme Court to force the Central Election Committee to review the outcome of the presidential elections held in March and to call new elections. They assert that in the organization and running of the elections for the Head of the state serious violations occurred of legality, independence, openness and transparency. They also consider that the actions of the Central Election Committee were unlawful, and that the latter abused its powers.

In the event that their appeal is rejected by the Supreme Court, the appellants intend to turn to international institutions, in particular to the UN Human Rights Committee.

According to the official results from the CEC, the presidential elections held on 19 March 2006 were won by Aleksandr Lukashenko with 83 percent support from those who took part in the voting.