Boycotting “elections” to be banned on December 8

Lukashenka signed the law on amendments to the electoral legislation.

The document takes force on December 8, Interfax news agency reports.

Under the law, parliamentary elections will be carried out in one round and calling to boycott elections will be forbidden.

“This amendment is based on the practice of holding parliamentary elections, which, for rare exceptions, didn't need a second round,” head of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Lidzia Yarmoshyna said. She emphasised that the amendment wouldn't be applied to presidential elections that would be held in two rounds.

Yarmoshyna proposes to forbid calling for the breakdown, cancellation or postponing elections or referendums. “It [a ban on boycotting] was caused by the negative practice of carrying out electoral campaigns by certain candidates,” she said noting that it was widely used during the latest electoral campaigns. The CEC head said the ban on calling for a boycott would be applied to “all participants of the electoral campaign.”

The CEC head noted that the amendments to the electoral legislation didn't fully comply with the OSCE/ODIHR requirements.