Results of registration of candidates in regions

A meeting was held yesterday in Homel to approve the registration of candidates for the Homel City Council of Deputies. According to observer Anatol Paplauny, 108 candidates were registered, 16 nominations were rejected, including those of pro-democratic candidates (5 UCP candidates, one – “Fair World”) and civil society activists Kastus Zhukouski (coalition “Our Alternative”) and Halina Krauchanka (initiative “Homel Democratic Forum”).

At the same time, election officials registered 13 UCP candidates and 7 representatives of the Left Party "Fair World".

"The main claims dealt with the declarations and signatures. In particular, someone failed to declare a house, a car or bonds. There were also claims concerning signatures, as they were supposedly invalid,” says Anatol Paplauny.

He adds that candidates for the City Council usually include managers of enterprises, for example, director of a bus depot or a confectionary factory.

Brest election commission refused to register three applicants from the city’s democratic community over allegedly inaccurate information specified in their declarations.

As a result, 121 candidates were registered to compete for 40 seats in the Council.

The greatest number of party members registered as candidates represent the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada) - 8 persons, the Belarusian Left Party "Fair World" - 7, and BPF – candidates.

The city election commission also reports that the candidates include 11 current members of the City Council of Brest.

Biaroza election officials registered 46 candidates for the District Council and three candidates for the Regional Council. One applicant, representative of the United Civil Party Yauhen Kabanau, was denied registration for failing to declare a car, which officially belongs to him, although it was sold some three years ago. He also did not provide a document on education and a copy of his employment record.

Local opposition forces will be represented by UCP’s Andrei Buranka running for the Regional Council and BPF candidate Yauhen Prakuratau in elections to the District Council 1.

Among the remaining 44 candidates for the District Council there is only one independent candidate, a retired woman Tarasevich. The rest are government officials of various levels, two teachers and one shaperman.

Strangely enough, no one except Ms. Tarasevich attended the meeting.

As noted by independent observers in Hrodna Raman Yurhel and Viktar Sazonau, registration of candidates was not accompanied by any surprises. In the vast majority of constituencies, elections to the City Council will be uncontested. Among representatives of democratic parties, which sought to become candidates, election officials did not register local UCP leader Aliaksandra Vasilevich, as the commission said she improperly filled her income tax declaration. For the same reason registration was denied to a candidate to the Regional Council representing the “Tell the Truth”, Dzmitry Bandarchuk. Interestingly, the election commission denied registration to Kazimir Znaidzinski, chairman of the local office of the pro-governmental Union of Poles, who was going to run in the same constituency. As a result, there remains only one uncontested candidate, Aliaksandr Surkou, chief physician of city hospital No. 4.

The new regional council will probably have 12 new members, as several deputies died and a number were moved to parliament. The election commission denied registration to UCP activists of Astravets Ivan Kruk and Mikalai Ulasevich. The latter, however, is still registered as a candidate for Varnyany village council.

Most candidates are registered in the Tsentralnaya constituency No. 7, where campaigning will be continued by the only candidate of the BPF Vadzim Saranchukou, chairman of the party’s city office, and a member of the UCP Natallia Slutskaya, as well as a police general, head of the regional police department Uladzimir Sycheuski.

Slonim election authorities registered all five democratic nominees (3 BPF candidates and 2 BCD members), including a doctor, a member of the BPF Ivan Sheha. In Iuye, candidate’s registration was granted to UCP member Iryna Davidovich. In Zelva, the only democratic nominee, Yauhen Skrabutan’s nomination was rejected.

A meeting of Baranavichy city election commission held on 20 February registered 43 candidates of 44 bidders for the City Council.

The officials registered representatives of the Left Party "Fair World" Viktar Tsiapin (constituency No. 11) and Cheslau Huzouski (constituency No. 25), as well as civil society and trade union activist Ryhor Hryk (constituency No. 15).

The majority of registered candidates for the City Council are heads of government agencies and representatives of the pro-government political parties. Out of the 36 constituencies in the city, most of will be uncontested.

Several representatives of Babruisk democrats became candidates for the City Council, but most were rejected by the election commission. For example, only one person will be able to run out of 9 nominees of the Tell the Truth campaign.

“For the rest of the applicants they found some strange grounds for denial. Allegedly, the dates in the signature sheets are wrong or buildings belonging to the wrong polling station. I specifically asked for a printout with the numbers of houses and the polling stations, to which they belong, and we worked on them, so I do not understand how it happened. We will see to the matter, when we get the minutes,” says Liudmila Kaveryna, local coordinator of the Tell the Truth campaign.

"Fair World" nominated two persons and both were registered as candidates.

Taisiya Kabanchuk, local BCD leader, said that initially there were 15 activists willing to become candidates.

“But then four persons refused to collect signatures, and the others decided to campaign,” says Taisiya Kabanchuk. “Despite the passivity of voters, all of our nominees have collected the required number of signatures and even more. They took the opportunity to talk to people, to express their position, but not everyone filed the final documents. To date, we do know that they registered Sviatlana Hrytsenka, Danuta Dziachenka and Iliya Rodau. In general, I note that the collection of signatures was held without interference. We are once again convinced that Babruisk residents do not know acting deputies and do not believe the future ones.”

The number and names of other registered candidates for deputies in Babruisk are yet unknown to the general public, as the official sources are in no hurry to publish them.

“Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”