26.08.2008 There will be no meetings with voters in Orsha and Dubrouna rayons

Local observers, activists of NGOs and political parties were surprised with the schedule of meetings with voters worked out by district commission of Orsha Dniaprouskaya district # 27. The district covers three administrative units – Orsha city, Orsha rayon, and Dubrouna rayon. The district commission planned 5 meetings with voters during the open campaign period… all five are in Orsha city. The commission did not think it was necessary to organizae meetings with voters in Orsha and Dubrouna rayons. The so-called groups of “facilitating the election process” composed of the local officials also failed to render assistance with that.

26.08.2008 Minsk: Rayon administrations conceal information about membership of precinct election commissions

Formation of precinct election commission ended almost two weeks ago, on August 13th. However, all interested parties of the election campaign still do not have complete information about members of Minsk precinct commissions.

After August 13th when interested citizens, representatives of political parties and non-governmental organizations called rayon administrations to find out if their representatives had become commission members, they received similar answers: “You can read that in the press”. The only exclusion was organizational department of Savetski rayon administration: a representative of the Party of Communists of Belarus from election district # 106 made an inquiry and received all information he needs. Practice has shown, it is very difficult to receive information about all precinct commissions from Minsk press. A group of enthusiasts tried to do that in a joint effort and encountered the following:

26.08.2008 Smarhon: Early agitation in Smarhon

Incumbent member of the Chamber of Representatives Tatsiana Holubeva, who is running for the next term, has been actively agitating for two weeks already. She visits the enterprises located in her district and carries out “meetings to report of her activities as an MP to the voters”. During the meetings she talks about the new laws passed with her support and explains what she will be able to do for Smarhon if she is elected again.

On August 19th and 21st Holubeva appeared on Smarhon local cable TV.