Vitsebsk oppositionists not included in electoral commission

A 13-member city commission for elections to the local councils was formed at a sitting of the Vitsebsk city executive committee on January 27.

Representatives of the democratic forces were not included in the commission, Radio Svaboda reports.

Five out of thirteen members of the Vitsebsk electoral commission are representatives of NGOs and political parties, which comply with the amendments to the Electoral Code. As before, civil society is represented by institutions, known for their pro-governmental views: BRSM, the veteran organization, association of Afghan War veterans Bratstvo, pro-governmental women’s organizations and the Communist Party of Belarus.

Tatsyana Sevyarynets, a coordinator of the BCD organizing committee in the Vitsebsk region, said he hadn’t been included in the commission, though she collected enough signatures. The candidates were elected by voting. Only three out of 18 representatives of the city executive committee and the Vitsebsk city council presidium voted for her. A representative of Fair world, the Belarusian Party of the Left, also got three voices. Representatives of the BPF party and the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada) gathered no voices at all.

It should be noticed that no opposition activists were included in the electoral commission in Homel on January 27. There’s little doubt that the situation in other regions will be the same.