In accordance with the official data, which emanated today from the CEC, only four nominees gathered 100 thousand signatures. In other words, said CEC press-secretary Lozovik “ the preliminary data are in conformity with the final ones”. Contenders for the presidency Chigir, Kozlovsky, Marinich and kalyakin intend to fight for their right to engage in presidential race and made the CEC acknowledge their collection of the needed 100 thousand signatures. Today at 5p.m. they will run a press-conference on the matter.
Edict “On the order of using state media outlets during the preparation and implementation of presidential elections in Belarus” was approved at the CEC July 25 session. Under this document all candidates will have the right to publish their pre-election platforms in 8 state periodicals, which can’t occupy more than 5 pages of space. The candidates are allowed to appear only twice before BT cameras and also twice – to speak to the state radio listeners. The duration of every speech cannot exceed 30 minutes. The nominee can entitle his confidant to address the nation in his place. The reports will be broadcasted on weekdays at 6.30-7.30p.m. on TV and at 8-9 a.m. on radio. The candidates will cast lots to decide on the day of the floor.
Organization for democratic institutes and human rights of OSCE (ODIHR OSCE) is set to carry out monitoring of presidential elections in Belarus, Interfax quoted Central Electoral Commission chair Alexander Veshnyakov as saying in the aftermath to his meeting in Warsaw with the ODIHR director G. Studemann and secretary general of the Association for elections in the Central and Eastern Europe Zoltan Tot.
Overnight July 24 Zhabinka law-enforcers captured two inhabitants from Chuchevichi village, who pasted flyers in Zhabinka (Brest region). BelaPAN was told by the press-service of the Brest regional council that a 21-year old Anatoly Sosukevich and 27-year old Vassily Sviridchuk were detained at 3 in the morning, having on them 36 leaflets of versatile content and “Krai” emblems and stickers. The cops filed an administrative protocol on the matter under art.172/3 (illegal dissemination of printed production). The senior activist also encountered criminal action under art.370 of the Criminal code (defiling state symbols). Police suspects that 15 minutes prior to the actual detention he tore down an official coat of arms from the lawyer’s office in Sovietskaya street and smashed it to pieces.
IMF mission in Minsk, presided by the director of the western section of the 2nd European department Marta de Castello-Branco, who just arrived in Minsk, will unleash operations in Belarus. The mission is targeting two objectives: to give evaluation of the general economic situation in the country and to watch over the government’s fulfillment of the monitoring program, launched in April this year. There are two troublesome issues under consideration: salary increase, which negatively affects the economic condition and agricultural crediting, which the Belarusian banks are providing. For this reason the issue of earmarking the credit, which the Belarusian side may initiate, will barely succeed.
The military training is scheduled for August-September this year. Complex tactic exercise of the armed forces, other troops and country’s military contingent (including police, interior forces, frontier troops and others) will be held at the Gozhsky, Domanovsky, Obuz-Lesnovsky, Dretunsky, Polessky and Ruzhansky shooting grounds. Expectedly, Alexander Lukashenko will personally visit the final part of the event and eye certain phases of tactical exercise involving real gunfire. The Defense Ministry admits that no such large-scale events have taken place in Belarus since the breakdown of the Soviet Union.
Not everyone can feel at ease in this heat of the summer. The situation is quite grave at the leading Belarusian companies – MTZ, MAZ, “Keramin”, “Kommunarka” and others. At another working session deputy head of the Minsk city hall Nikolai Erokhov asked chiefs of district administrations to pay greater attention to minor companies as well, so that their effective work could enable the state to reach high general parameters.
Last night thunderstorms, lightning bolts and heavy rainfall swept across Belarus, damaging electricity circuit lines in over a thousand populated settlements. Certain places experienced a two-month norm of precipitation just overnight. The storm killed two adults and one kid, while the authorities are calculating financial damages inflicted by the calamity.
A prison series of Valery Schukin is well known to everyone. But Valery Alekseevich used to write post factum, after release from prison cell, as far as in pre-trial detention center correspondence is not allowed to detainees. And now journalist and human rights campaigner Schukin is a real jailbird enjoying all rights: he is serving sentence on criminal charges. And according to the article 85, part 1 of the Criminal code: “A person sentenced to imprisonment is allowed to send and receive letters and telegrams without limitation of their number.” So “Narodnaya Volya” has an opportunity today to start publication of next in turn series by a famous “political hooligan”. You may read the diary of a political prisoner on our site.
Trial over a ZUBR activist Aleksei Shydlovsky will be held today in the court of the Partyzansky district of Minsk. Criminal action under art. 218 of the Penal Code was brought against Aleksei and three other resistance fellows in February this year. All four are charged with spray-painting the walls of the city hall and adjacent buildings. The young people will be tried by a notorious judge Borisenok, who presided over dozens of case hearings over opposition activists. He numerously convicted Supreme Soviet deputy Valery Schukin, currently serving his three-months term in Zhodino jail.
According to information, obtained by Israeli correspondent of Press-Center.Ru Kirill Gluzman from the competent Israeli sources, Belarus is shipping ammunition to the extremists. Israeli special services found out that Palestinian separatists start rarely using their own mortars for shelling the territory of Israel and switch over to foreign models. The huge cargo of mine-throwers, intercepted by Israeli forces, enabled them to trace the “Producer-Customer” link. As believed by experts from Europe and Israel Belarus is number one supplier of weaponry to the Muslim militants in Middle East and Balkans.
According to Mikhail Chigir, his information about the number of signatures collected in his support seriously differs from the official CEC data. Lidya Ermoshina – a CEC chairwoman – says that Chigir’s group passed over to the electoral commissions only 87 thousand signatures. Chigir notes that at present they are verifying the incidents when his initiative team members, threatened with expulsion from job, dared not bring the signatures to the commissions.
Leader of the initiative group for signature collection in support of Alexander Lukashenko Nikolai Chegrinets said in a conversation with the BelTA correspondent that over half-million signatories signed for Lukashenko. Allegedly 396.455 of signatures were submitted to the CEC, while 100 thousand were left “in reserve”. Nobody doubted that Lukashenko’s crew, actively activating administrative resource, would manage to “collect” more than just 100 thousand. Nonetheless, it seems as though Chegrinets is cunning, when he speaks of 500 thousand gathered in support of his patron. That could be the reason why he coined this notion “reserve”.
On July 22 Mogilev activists of the ZUBR movement buried dictatorship. At 2p.m. the mourning procession moved out from the Oktyabrsky park and proceeded towards the Svyaty lake. Ahead of the column they were carrying flower wreathes with words “We are happy without you”. These were followed by the red-green coffin, where the dictatorship’s corpse was placed. The mourners played accordion, guitar, whistles and horns.
Leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine will meet today in Vitebsk. Vladimir Putin will set off for Vitebsk in the morning in order to take part later in the day in the “Slav Bazaar” festival. As compared to last year, the form of their engagement in the event will be far less ceremonial. A year ago the presidents of three Slavic states opened a chapel on the Prokhorovo Pole, located right at the border between Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. This year there won’t be any such symbolic gestures, although the “Slav Bazaar” turns ten.
Despite the promises of the Mogilev car-building factory’s leadership and town authorities, the employees have seen no wages in the last three months. The situation is quite tense there and the workers refuse to labor. At many country’s enterprises, including the “TaiM” of Bobruisk, ZliN of Gomel, Mogilev car-building plant and others, they haven’t yet paid out to the workers their June salaries.
On July 25 the president of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmonov will arrive in Minsk on an official three-day visit. July 26 Rakhmonov will rendezvous with Alexander Lukashenko tete-a-tete and then in a wider format. Same day there’ll be held talks in the Government’s Palace between the high guest, Belarusian Premier Vladimir Ermoshin and spokesman of the “house of commons” Vadim Popov.
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