MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th August, 2020) The authorities of the Belarusian capital of Minsk extended the vote in the presidential election beyond 20:00 only to prevent crowds of protesters from smashing polling places, the head of the Central Election Commission said on Monday, stressing this did not affect the results of the election.
"Under the law, polling places should be closed at 20:00, but because of the crowd that could just smash them� � as there were aggressive people there, these were all supporters of an alternative candidate� � Minsk authorities, not the Central Election Commission, decided to extend [the operation of polling places] to enable everyone to vote ... Well, if one wants to, one could use it as grounds for lodging an appeal to recognize the results void, at least at these polling places. However, this does not affect the result of the election," Lidia Yermoshins said at a briefing.
