The Baranavichy-based state-owned newspaper “Nash Krai” has published an article saying that electors have the right to vote early within a week ahead of the parliamentary election scheduled for 23 September.

At the same time, the Belarusian Electoral Code says that early vote campaign starts only five days before the voting day.

During the previous election campaigns, early vote was used by the authorities to force people cast their ballots in non-transparent conditions and therefore came in for criticism from human rights defenders who view it as a means of concealing the actual election results.