Necessary number of signatures collected for 36 candidates from ‘European list’

07.08.2008. Tags: BSDP, KGB, elections-2008.

The European Coalition includes the organizing committees of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Narodnaya Hramada) and the Party of Freedom and Progress and the international NGO Young Front which has official registration in Czech.

The ‘European list’ of candidates includes participants of the European Coalition, entrepreneurs and representatives of different oppositional parties who support the European choice for Belarus.

According to the politician Mikalai Statkevich, signatures are collected by 63 initiative groups. 29 candidates on the list represent the organizing committee of the BSDP (Narodnaya Hramada), 8 – the organizing committee of the Party of Freedom and Progress, 20 – individual entrepreneurs and the rest belong to various oppositional parties. All in all about 2 300 persons take part in collection of signatures for the candidates. They have collected more than 60 000 signatures already.

As M.Statkevich says, ‘cases of pressurization of the candidates on the European list and of the electors who put signatures for them were registered. For instance, a representative of the European list from Navapolatsk had to refuse from participation in the elections because of dismissal threats, and in Hrodna some of the candidates were invited for conversations to the KGB department.’

The nomination of candidates will last till 18 August and registration will take place on 19-28 August.