Authorities Establish Illegal “Coordinative Consulting Groups on Preparation and Holding Elections”

Zmitser Salawiow (head of Navapolatsk Board of BPF Party) together with Ihar Valiayew (head of Navapolatsk organization of BSDH Party) asked to permit them to hold a meeting in the town of Ushachy on 28 August 2004 with the aim to discuss the upcoming election and collect signatures for Zmitser Salawiow who is going to run for a seat at the National Assembly. The received answer didn’t permit or prohibited the meeting, it only contained references to Article 45 of the Electoral Code where it is stated that agitation for candidate can be started since the moment of their registration (by the way, the application didn’t contain such aim). The answer was signed by vice-head of Ushachy District Executive Committee Karchewskaya, who, according to the signature, is also the head of a coordinative consulting group on preparation and holding of election to the Chamber of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus.

Establishment of such a body exceeds the provisions of the electoral legislation, that’s why Zmitser Salawiow applied to Ushachy DEC, asking to explain who established the group, what powers it had and on the basis of what legal acts, which actions the group coordinated and what consultations it gave.

We should remind that according to article 11 of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Belarus holding of elections and control of electoral legislation is in the competence of electoral commissions, which, according to the article, are independent in their activity. On the other hand, article 38 of the law states that state bodies should assist the commissions in their activity.