Election rigging reports have been redirected “for consideration on the merits” to Orsha town department of internal affairs, says a reply received by independent observers Mikalai Dziamidau and Yauhen Anishchanka from local office of the Investigative Committee.

The reports deal with a number of violations registered by the observers representing the “For Fair Elections-2012” campaign in constituencies Nos. 26 and 27 in Orsha. The observers argued that the town’s election officials overstated the number of voters who cast ballots at their residence. In some cases, e.g. at polling stations Nos. 18, 26 and 33, the official figures were several times larger than the number of ballots found in the boxes during vote counting. The violations were reported to the town’s department of the Investigative Committee.

By redirecting the appeal, the Investigative Committee evaded investigating election fraud reports, say the observers.