CONSTITUTIONAL COURT: CEC TO INFORM ABOUT REGULATIONS OF LOCAL ELECTIONS

The Constitutional Court reacted to appeal of NGOs with the statement that Central Election Commission should "create conditions" for informing "interested parties" about materials on elections to local Councils of Deputies. NGOs addressed the Constitutional court, when CEC refused to provide the Human Rights Center "Viasna" with their recommendations on organizing elections to precinct elections commissions.
Human Rights Center "Viasna" and Independent Society for Legal Research submitted a joint appeal to the head of the Constitutional Court R. A. Vasilevich, informing him about groundless refusal of the Central Election Committee to present their methodological recommendations on organizing local elections to precinct election commissions.
The appeal pointed out:
"Groundless refusal of the Central Election Commission to inform the public with information, which deals with the rights and legal interests of subjects of the election process, is inadmissible neglect of the principles of openness. It can break the public trust to election preparation process".
Non-governmental organizations asked to "use all possible means and competence in order to prevent violation of the Constitutional rights of the citizens, and to "explain the Central Election Commission, what "openness" means".
In his reply the head of the Constitutional Court recognized, that "it is necessary to create the necessary conditions for at least familiarizing the interested subjects with these materials, if not for mailing them on request". According to the head of the Constitutional Court, the public will have the opportunity to use the web-site (www.reg.gov.by), created especially for these purposes. The web-site is available since 9 December, 2002.
The full text of the address is available only in Russian