Salihorsk activists receive standard runarounds from Central Election Commission

Several residents of Salihorsk addressed the CEC chairperson with the demand not to register the electoral team of Aliaksandr Lukashenka (and later – to annul its registration). However, all answers include a standard formulation: ‘A decision to deny registration to an initiative group of citizens nominating a candidate for President of the Republic of Belarus is taken by the Central Election Commission on the grounds stipulated by the Electoral Code of the Republic of Belarus. In your address, you haven’t drawn any juridical grounds for non-registration of the initiative group for nomination of the acting Head of the State a candidate for President of the Republic of Belarus.’

In the answers of the CEC Chairperson it is also stated that the decision on these addresses was taken personally by her, not by the whole CEC, which is justified by references to parts 2 and 3 of Article 33 of the Electoral Code.

’It's a pity that Lidziya Yarmoshyna didn’t find any reasons to annul the registration of the electoral team of Mr. Lukashenka in the address that contained about ten pages of juridical argumentation. The reluctance to take this decision collegially only raises additional question about its competence. However, there is a positive moment: the responsibility for this decision isn’t collegiate either,’ commented one of the signers of the address to L. Yarmoshyna, Aliaksei Valabuyeu.

Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections