Today Forming of Territorial Election Commissions Ends. Opposition Excluded Again :: Charter'97 :: News

Forming of 165 territorial election commissions for election of the president of Belarus is to be finished on Wednesday, told the secretary of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the country Mikalay Lazavik. “Today 7 regional and Minsk city commissions should be formed, 118 district, 16 city and 24 district commissions in towns,” said the secretary of the CEC. Meanwhile the leader of the Party of Communists of Belarus Syarhei Kalyakin at today’s press conference in Minsk said that according to his information, opposition representatives had not been included to the election commissions. “It demonstrates once again that the authorities are not going to hold fair and free elections,” Kalyakin stated.

As said b the CEC secretary, in the near future the CEC is to receive data on members of the territorial election commissions. “As for the social make-up of the commissions, party affiliation of their members, it is superfluous information which is unnecessary for us,” Lazavik said.

He called the complaints of oppositional politicians for refusal of local authorities to include oppositionists to territorial election commissions “traditional”. “People who are known as good lawyers, organizers, who are able to work with documents and with the law, are included to election commissions by the presidiums of local Soviets and executive bodies in the first place,” Lazavik emphasized.

Besides, as said by him, “people who have given a good account of themselves during the previous election campaigns, for instance, in parliamentary elections, are as a rule invited to the commissions”.