District Commissions Refuse to Execute CEC Decisions and Register BPF Candidates

Biaroza district election commission decided to appeal the decision of Central Election Commission which registered Bielaaziorsk town councilor Yuras Hubarevich as a parliamentary candidate.

Head of Biaroza district election commission Maria Sobal is dissatisfied with CEC decision and says she will appeal it in the Supreme Court. She used that as a ground not to issue a candidate’s certificate to Yuras Hubarevich.

Later she told RFE/RL that she was ready to issue the certificate as soon as she got the proper documents from CEC.

The Central Election Commission registered Mr. Hubarevich on Thursday, ruling the denial by district election commission groundless. There were no debates on the case. Ms. Sobal could not present any arguments to defend the decision of her election commission. Yuras Hubarevich believes the local authorities are doing everything possible to get him out of the race. He says violations made by district election commission are hindering his election campaign.

Similar situation happened with BPF candidate Yaraslaw Bernikovich who is running at Hlybokaye district. Bernikovich appealed the non-registration decision to CEC. On September 23 the Central Election Commission ruled to register him as a candidate. However, when Bernikovich applied to the district election commission for a candidate’s certificate, he was denied. Possibly, the district commission decided to wait for the official papers from CEC.