We protest against the forcing of Belarusian students to vote early in this year’s parliamentary elections. As evidenced by numerous facts, the forcing has the form of threats from the university administration, including deans and deputy deans and teachers, who threaten the students with academic problems as a result of refusal to participate in early voting. The threats are also disseminated by representatives of the university administration through social networks, which has been reported by independent media. Representatives of the BRSM pro-government youth union are also involved in illegal coercion.

We demand to stop the illegal forcing of students to vote early, since it violates the legislation of Belarus (Article 5 of the Electoral Code), students’ Constitutional rights, as well as the basic principles of the Bologna Process — academic freedoms and self-government.