Campaign has been launched. What kind of campaign?

The Central Election Commission has announced an election campaign for electing deputies of the “chamber of representatives” and members of the “council of republic” which is planned for September 28. However Lukashenka hadn’t signed the decree for holding the “vote” before noon.

“It is definite that the electoral campaign for electing deputies of the “chamber of representatives” and members of the “council of republic” starts on June 24,” the chairperson of the Central Electoral Commission Lidziya Yarmoshyna announced recently. Last Friday she discussed with Alyaksandr Lukashenka issues related to holding the election.

However, to start the electoral campaign without Lukashenka’s decree on announcing the date of the vote is impossible. It is absolutely illegally. Representatives of the CEC started to make excuses.

“We believe that the decree is to be signed today. Such promises by the presidential administration have been received by us,” Mikalay Lazavik told to Radio Svaboda.

“Under the law, the electoral commission starts from the moment of publication of the presidential decree,” Lazavik confessed.

Only after the noon the informational agency Interfax informed that Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed the decree for electing deputies of the “chamber of representatives” of the “national assembly” on September 28 this year.

As noted by the secretary of the Belarusian CEC Mikalay Lazavik, “in fact, the electoral campaign has been launched with signing of these decrees”.

As we have informed, representatives of the civil society and youth organisations are set to boycott the upcoming “election”. Since 1996 all the elections and referendums in Belarus have been recognized not free and undemocratic by the world community.

Political parties state that there is no elections in the real meaning of the word in Belarus now, but they are set to use the electoral campaign for informing the population. It is still unclear whether representatives of parties would be included into constituency electoral commissions. As we have informed, on June 8 political parties rubberstamped a list of 110 candidates for work in constituency electoral commissions. The list was formed in the following way: experience of work in state institutions; a status in the society and politics; a present working place; education. Such well-known politicians as Stanislau Shushkevich, Mechyslau Hryb, Alyaksandr Sasnou, Pavel Kazlouski, Ales Byalatski, Valyantsin Stefanovich and Leu Marholin are on the list.

None of the conditions of the opposition representatives concerning elections has been fulfilled. Within the framework of the campaign “For Free Elections” initiated by “For Freedom” movement, the democratic forces of Belarus have prepared four draft decrees for the central Election Commission. By adopting these decrees the election process could be improved within the framework of the current legislation. The decrees are related to votes counting process; they guarantee the right to be present in electoral commissions for political and public associations that had nominated candidates; explain the rights of observers and members of electoral commissions during votes count. During the agitation campaign they prioritize provisions of the Electoral Code, and not of the Law on Mass Events.