THE BELARUSIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AND THE MEDIA. OVERVIEW

On 30 June, 2015 the House of Representatives of the National Assembly appointed the presidential election on 11 October, 2015 http://www.rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PRB2015-Post_pp.pdf

Initially, the elections were planned for mid-November. Shifting the date of the elections (this has already become traditional for Belarus) has complicated the work of the candidates for the post of the Head of State.

The Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus on Elections and Holding Republican Referendums (hereinafter – CEC) has registered eight out of fifteen initiative groups of voters, who applied for the registration, to nominate candidates for the President of the Republic of Belarus. In particular, on 20 July the initiative group for nomination of Mikalai Statkevich, a former candidate for the Presidents of the Republic of Belarus in the 2010 elections, convicted on charges of organizing mass riots, was denied registration. CEC referred to the part 2 of the Art. 64 of the Constitution, according to which the persons kept in places of confinement in accordance with a court sentence cannot take part in elections. On 22 August Mikalai Statkevich was pardoned by the president and released http://naviny.by/rubrics/politic/2015/08/23/ic_articles_112_189574/, which was positively perceived by the international organizationshttp://eeas.europa.eu/statements-eeas/2015/150822_01_en.htm. However, this did not change the situation with the capability of M. Statkevich to participate in elections.

On 10 September the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus on Elections and Holding Republican Referendums (hereinafter – CEC) has registered four presidential candidates, nominated by collecting signatures: the current president Aliaksandr Lukashenka, Siarhei Haidukevich, Tatsiana Karatkevich and Mikalai Ulakhovich http://www.rec. gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PRB2015-Soob1.pdf .

The part of the opposition was in favor of holding “Ignore” campaign with an appeal to ignore the voting. (In 2013, the changes to the Electoral Code that bans calls for a boycott of the elections were introduced).  

With the registration of candidates the pre-election campaign began, which lasted until 10 October (the pre-election “day of silence”). The procedure of using the media in the preparation and conduct of elections was approved by the CEC http://www.rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PRB2015-Post49.pdf  

The state TV channel “Belarus 1” and “First National Channel for Belarusian Radio” have given to each candidate the opportunity to address the voters (2 times on the TV, 2 times on the radio). On 3 October the debates between the candidates were held. In addition, the candidates were given the right to publish their programs in the print media, financed by the state and listed in the CEC decree.

The current president Aliaksandr Lukashenka did not use his free airtime and did not participate in the debates, however his presence on the state TV and radio channels, as well as in state-owned print media was predominant. It was showed in the monitoring of the coverage of the presidential elections the media carried out by the NGO “Belarusian Association of journalists» http://baj.by/be/analytics/manitoryng-asvyatlenne-prezidenckih-vybarau-2015-gu-belaruskih-smi-vynikovy

http://baj.by/en/analytics/monitoring-coverage-2015-presidential-election-belarusian-media-final-report

On 3 October, the early voting started in Belarus. According to the CEC more than 36% of the electorate did participate in the early voting, and this was kind of the record for the presidential elections in the country. The observers of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” have recorded numerous facts of forcing to vote early by the administration of the enterprises and universities http://elections2015.spring96.org/ru/news/80709.

On 11 October the majority of the voters voted.

On 16 October the CEC announced that the current president of Belarus Aliaksandr Lukashenka has won in the elections http://www.rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PRB2015-Soob3.pdf. The Central Commission for Elections has reported that 83.5 percent of voters voted for his candidacy. According to the Central Commission for Elections 4.4 percent of voters voted for Tatsiana Karatkevich, 3.3 percent for Siarhei Haidukevich, 1.7 per cent – for Mikalai Ulakhovich, 6.3 per cent of voters did not support any of the candidates.

These figures differ from those of some sociological agencies, which do not call into question the victory of Aliaksandr Lukashenka in the first round, however, show a much higher percentage of support for Tatsiana Karatkevich. Thus, according to the results of the December poll of IISEPS Lukashenka won 50.8% of votes, and Karatkevich – 22.3% http://naviny.by/rubrics/politic/2015/12/29/ic_articles_112_190586/ .

The International Election Observation Mission, organized jointly by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE/PA) and the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) has critically assessed the vote count during the elections. “It is obvious that Belarus faces a long way to fulfill all of its democratic commitments – said the Special Co-ordinator of the mission, Vice president of the OSCE/PA Kent Harstedt. – The release of political prisoners and welcoming approach to the observers are the positive moments.However, the hope, given by these actions, was false. Considering previous promises, I am particularly disappointed with the shortcomings during the votes counting.» Http://naviny.by/rubrics/elections/2015/10/12/ic_news_623_464899/

THE SITUATION IN THE MEDIA BEFORE THE ELECTIONS

(CAMPAIGN’S BACKGROUND)

During the election year the Belarusian legislation in the sphere of mass media and its application has become harsher.

In late December 2014, the additions and changes were introduces into the law “On mass media” in a hurry and without any discussion; it came into force on 1 January, 2015 In particular, the Ministry of Information has acquired the right to restrict access to any Internet resources (including even for a single violation of the legislation on mass media) without the court decision. http://baj.by/sites/default/files/law_and_media/analiz_osnovnyh_izmenenij_v_zakon_respubliki_belarus.pdf. The list of information, prohibited for distribution in the media, has been already vaguely formulated and allowing the possibility for a broad interpretation, was supplemented with a following part “information, the dissemination of which is able to harm the national interests of the Republic of Belarus.”  Based on this provision on 18 June the Ministry of Information decided to restrict access to the site kyky.org (there was no warnings for the site editors). As it was stated in the message from the ministry, a number of publications on this site “contained derogatory remarks against the state holiday of the Republic of Belarus – Victory Day, the country’s citizens celebrating it, contested the importance of this event in the history of the state, thereby distorted the historical truth about the Great Patriotic War”.  The access to the site has been regained in 6 days, after the named article was removed from the site.  The blocking of the kyky.org site was interpreted by the experts as a warning to the Internet community http://naviny.by/rubrics/society/2015/07/12/ic_articles_116_189294/.

Among the amendments to the Law on Mass Media introduced in December 2014, there is a mandatory requirement for registration of distributors of media products, and the Ministry of Information may ban their activities as distributors http://baj.by/sites/default/files/analytics/files/registraciya_rasprostraniteley_smi_0_0.pdf. This provision came into force on 1 July, i.e. after the date of the presidential elections was set. Some independent media, who sold a significant part of their circulation through trade enterprises and entrepreneurs, have faced with a decrease in the number of their sales. This especially affected the media, which can not be distributed through state-owned enterprises, which dominate the market of dissemination of media products (“Belpochta” and “Soiuzpechat”).  Shortly before the elections “Gazeta Slonimskaya”, «Intex-press» and «Intex-press plus”, “SNplus. Svobodnye novosti plus” received refusals on their applications to include these newspapers in the subscription catalogs of “Belpochta” (Belarus Post) or sales in “Soiuzpechat” kiosks.  In September, during the election campaign, “Novy Chas” and “Borisov novosti» newspapers received the similar refusals http://baj.by/ru/analytics/desyat-let-bez-prava-podpiski-kopii-dokumentov-tablica (http://baj.by/be/analytics/dzesyac-god-bez-prava-raspausyudu-kopii-dakumentau-tablica, http://baj.by/en/analytics/ten-years-out-sight).

At the beginning of 2015 the Ministry of Information issued 27 warnings to 26 mass media http://mininform.gov.by/ru/stat-ru/. According to the Ministry of Information, the reason for their issuing was the wrong indication of the registering body name ( “the Ministry of Information of RB” instead of “the Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus”). The insignificant reason for the warning (in light of the fact that after two warnings within a year the Ministry of Information may apply to the court for termination of the media release) shows that, perhaps, the goal was to increase self-censorship in the media on the eve of the election campaign.

In 2015, the pressure on journalists who cooperate with foreign media without accreditation has increased. The courts hold them accountable on the basis of police reports, while arbitrarily interpreting p. 2 of Art. 22.9 of the Administrative Code, which provides for liability for the unlawful manufacture and / or distribution of media products (a practice that started in May 2014). In 2014 10 journalists were found liable under Art. 22.9 of the Administrative Code, then from January to August 2015 – 28 journalists.

http://baj.by/ru/analytics/shtrafy-zhurnalistam-po-st-229-koap-tablica-obnovlyaetsya

In all cases, the basis for this was not the content of their materials, but the fact of their appearance in the foreign media.  At the beginning of August during a press conference with journalists of independent media, president Aliaksandr Lukashenka promised to deal with the situation http://www.svaboda.org/content/article/27170361.html, after this there were no new cases of against journalists under art. 22.9 of the Administrative Code.

OBSERVANCE OF RIGHTS OF JOURNALISTS AND MEDIA DURING ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Main violations of the rights of journalists and the media were recorded in October.

On 3 October (the first day of early voting) the server of the informational company “BelaPAN”, where the sites of the company and its affiliated online newspaper Naviny.by are located, came under a massive DDoS attack that lasted several days. BelaPAN connected this to the publication of articles about the “religious-political campaign “Prayer for Belarus” on Naviny.by. In these articles the methods of the campaign’s organization were criticized, the opinions of students who came the event “on the order” were shown.

http://belapan.com/archive/2015/10/05/805445/

During the early voting and on the main day of elections at some polling stations the journalists were forbidden to take photos and shoot video.

Thus, on 9 October the journalist of the “Novy Chas” newspaper Artsiom Liava, who took photos at the polling station №29 of Leninski district, was accused of disturbing the voting process by the precinct electoral commission, so he was removes from the polling station. On 11 October, on the main elections day, Artsiom was not allowed in the premises of another polling station (№33) of the same district.

On 9 October the journalist of the “Bobruisk Courier” Internet site has faced obstacles in her work at a polling station in Babruisk. The chairman of the precinct electoral commission has strictly “regulated” the time of her work at the polling station: take a picture and leave. The journalist was forced to leave the polling station.

On 11 October the journalist of the Polish online edition Eastbook.eu could not shoot the video of the counting process on one of the polling stations of the Pervomaisky district of Minsk.

In Brest, an observer from the pro-government organization “Belaya Rus” tried to stop video shooting by the journalists, in Minsk the crew of the TUT.by portal has repeatedly faced the obstacles in their work, etc. http://baj.by/be/analytics/antymetadychka-albo -dlya-kago-pisha-prykladnyya- scenary-cvk

It should be noted that these actions of the members of electoral commissions were in direct contradiction to the instructions of the CEC, that were listed in the “Exemplary training scenario for the members of precinct electoral commissions for the elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus” http://www.rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections Post19.pdf–PRB2015. In particular, the situations with journalists at the polling stations were shown there and it was said that the journalists have the right to carry out photo-video shooting.

Among the other violations of media rights, related to the electoral process, there are the numerous refuses to provide the information related to the elections. However, overall the presidential elections were quite peaceful. Perhaps the reasons for that were the intention of the official Minsk to receive a positive assessment of the presidential elections by the international community, the lack of political tension in the country during the elections, as well as the “cooling” effect on the media, which has already been achieved as a result of increasingly stringent legislation and practice.

THE COVERAGE OF THE ELECTIONS IN THE MEDIA

According to the conclusions of the NGO “Belarusian Association of Journalists”, which monitored the election campaign in mass media http://baj.by/be/analytics/manitoryng-asvyatlenne-prezidenckih-vybarau-2015-gu-belaruskih-smi-vynikovy, this campaign “was very quiet” comparing with the previous elections. This was made possible due to lack of a real competition, public discussions of the serious economic problems, through the marginalization of opponents of the regime, as well as censoring any criticism of the current head of the state by the voters in the state media. In addition, these media have launched a number of projects that represented twenty-year history of independent Belarus and the current situation in the country as a history of success and achievements.

The increased attention of state media to the technical side of the election campaign (preparation of premises for voting, the activity of local authorities, the territorial commissions, etc.) was another notable element of the electoral process, aimed at its de-politicization, and on reduction of the level of engagement of voters in the electoral competition between different political forces and platforms.

Unlike the state media, the independent media has been focusing on lighting the activities of both the regime and its opponents. However, they could not affect the nature of the election campaign in the country due to the limited circulation and the atmosphere of predetermination of the election results.