MINSK, March 19 (RIA Novosti) - Voting has been proceeding calmly in Belarus since polls opened here Sunday morning, the head of the country's Central Electoral Commission said.
"The polling stations opened at 8 am [local time (6 am GMT)]. No complications, excesses or disturbances have been spotted [since then]," Lidiya Yermoshina said in televised remarks. "There are few criticisms, and these contain no evidence of law abuse."
Asked to comment on suspected vote rigging cases reported by some of the observers, Yermoshina said: "It looks like certain observers have been poorly trained, and are pulling facts out of context."
She called Sunday's election in Belarus a "celebration of democracy" and said its outcome would depend on "our citizens' wisdom."
Some 20 percent of Belarus' registered voters reportedly cast ballots before election day, raising observers' concerns of possible ballot-box stuffing.
In the election run-up, the country's authorities tightened control over opposition leaders and media to prevent protests against alleged vote rigging, such as the ones that had led to the "rose revolution" in Georgia in 2003 and the "orange revolution" in Ukraine in 2004.
More than 30,000 domestic and 1,300 foreign observers are monitoring Belarus' election, contested by the incumbent Alexander Lukashenko, who has been dubbed "Europe's last dictator," and the opposition candidates Alexander Milinkevich, Alexander Kozulin and Sergei Gaidukevich.
The polling stations will be open till 8 pm local time (6 pm GMT). Preliminary results are expected in the early hours Monday.
