714 polling stations have been established in the Vitebsk region for the republican referendum

The stage of forming polling stations for the republican referendum has been completed. Thus, 5510 polling stations have been formed in the Republic of Belarus, including 217 in sanatoriums, health resorts, rest homes, hospitals, and other healthcare organizations providing inpatient medical care, and 12 in military units. The largest number of polling stations have been formed in the Gomel and Minsk regions (977 and 929 respectively), 883 in the Brest region, 714 in the Vitebsk region, 707 in the Mogilev region, 608 in the Grodno region, and 692 in the city of Minsk. During the 2020 Presidential elections of the Republic of Belarus, 5723 polling stations were formed in our country, which is 213 more than during the current referendum campaign. The reduction in the number of polling stations is due to a decrease in the rural population, the consolidation of small polling stations into larger ones, and the optimization of organizations. According to information received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the heads of Belarusian foreign institutions have not made decisions to form polling stations for the republican referendum outside the Republic of Belarus due to objective reasons in each case (epidemiological situation and corresponding measures and requirements, impossibility to ensure a sufficient level of security during the organization of voting, as well as the absence of the required number of citizens on consular registration). CEC