UCP Ready to Announce First Stage of Elections Falsified :: Charter'97 :: News

Minsk city branch of the United Civil Party reports to journalists that 541 representatives of the party were nominated for precinct election commissions. Among the candidates are professors, people with experience in administration, students and pensioners. Formation of election commissions is to be finished on February 1, the international Monitoring Bureau informs.

The leader of Minsk city branch of the United Civil Party Ihar Shynkaryk stated that his party does not “cherish illusions” that its candidates would be allowed to join commissions. As said by him, there were no representatives of the UCP during the parliamentary elections either in precinct election commissions or in constituency election commissions. One of the representatives of the party was included into the precinct commission during local elections in Minsk. I. Shynkaryk said that the grounds for refusal were “rather prosaic”. “The main of them is absence of experience in election campaigns,” I. Shynkaryk said. “But it is a lame excuse, as many of the candidates proposed by us had taken part in campaigns many times. Besides, there were deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the 12th and 13th convocation among them”.

The representative of the UCP also said that in case none of the activists would be included in the commissions, Minsk city branch would make a special statement, saying that “the first stage of election rigging has been passed”.