Nobody wants seat in local councils

The average competition in the local council “elections” in the Vitebsk region is 1.1 candidates per seat.

More than half of proposed candidates are members of local councils, Nasha Niva reports.

The average competition in the country is 1.2 candidates per electoral district, BelaPAN quotes spokesman for the Central Election Commission Mikalai Lazavik.

The number of candidates nominated by all opposition political parties is 375 people, which is 1.6% of the total number of candidates. The Belarusian Left Party “Fair World” nominated 119 people. 110 candidates were proposed by the United Civil Party, 51 by the Republican Party of Labour and Justice, 50 by the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada), 35 by the BPF Party, 3 by the Social Democratic Party of People's Consent and one by the Belarusian Green Party.

Members of local councils don't take independent decisions. Funds are allocated on decisions of regional executive committee from top to down, not the other way. Councils only formally approve decisions of the executive branch. Only those chosen by the power vertical can become members of local councils. There have been no local councils with opposition groups for the last few years, though the constitution guarantees political pluralism.

None “elections” and “referendums” in Belarus have been recognised by international organisations since 1995.

Photo by Radio Svaboda