Selection Season Underway :: Charter'97 :: News

Opposition’s somber forecasts keep coming true. In the period of December 14-16 executive commissions and presidiums of the local Councils set up the district electoral commissions. CEC chairwoman Lydia Ermoshina said at her press-conference that these commissions will only be convened for the elections into the district councils of deputies.

According to preliminary information, the representation of democratic parties in the district commissions is also minimal – just as in the territorial ones, formed before it. For example, not even a single representative of the United Civil Party has been included into the district commissions in Minsk.
Minsk is the crucial city for opposition. First of all because the democratic candidates enjoy population’s greatest support there and, second of all, because 55 Minsk deputies nominate 7-8 people into the Council of the Republic.
UCP leader Anatoly Lebedko told “Belorusskiye Novosti” that his party representatives weren’t included into the Minsk district commissions from the absence of strict regulation of the nomination procedure in the Electoral Code.
The Belarusian Social-Democratic Party (Narodnaya Gromada) leader Nikolai Statkevich is also utterly displeased with the nomination’s outcomes, in particular in Vitebsk:
- In Vitebsk there are 11 district electoral commissions – not a single representative of our party was accepted there. Meantime, we have 13 district branches of our party in Vitebsk and dozens of affiliates, registered by the Justice Ministry bodies. Nonetheless, not even a single representative from our party was appointed into the district commissions’ composition.
No wonder, nihilist calls again sound loud in the country. The BPF Conservative-Christian Party (chaired by Zyanon Poznyak) called on the Belarusian and international public to boycott local elections. As noted in their statement, “the existing regime created such a system of control and falsification of elections that the regime could ensure its victory in any elections and voting”. Under these conditions, deem representatives of the party, “Belarusians’ participation in the elections, organized by the regime for its own interests’ sake, is a provocation and treason to the nation”.
In fact, not so many listen to the BPF CCP’s opinion. That means we are in for one more round – struggle for the places in the district electoral commissions. These will be formed 45 days before the ballot, that is after January 15. On December 22-January 20 they will nominate candidates for the deputies. Opposition parties harbor little illusions concerning the state’s favor to their candidates. They will be exposed to strict selection at every stage of campaigning.