Initiative group of Ivan Kruk was registered

The Hrodna oblast election commission reversed the decision of the Astravets district election commission concerning the registration denial to the initiative group of Ivan Kruk who intended to run for the Astravets district Soviet of Deputies at the Shkolnaya election constituency #2.

Having considered Kruk’s complaint and the materials that were received from the Astravets district election commission, the Hrodna oblast election commission confessed the groundlessness of the registration denial.

As Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections have already informed, the reason for the denial was ‘violation of the principle of free participation in elections’ which allegedly was done by making several people members of the initiative group without their prior consent to it. Bear in mind that some of the members of the initiative group decided to leave the group as a result of pressurization from the Astravets district election commission.

In the decision of the Hrodna OEC it is stated that the pretensions of the district election commission couldn’t be considered as a violation of the requirements of the Election Code of the Republic of Belarus concerning the establishment of initiative groups and cannot be considered as a sufficient ground for the registration denial. As a result, the initiative group was registered.

’The decision of the Hrodna oblast election commission considerably influenced the attitude to me,’ says Ivan Kruk. ‘The pressurization of the members of my initiative group stopped. We managed to collect 230 signatures for just three days. The electors treated us rather friendly. Many of them knew about the obstacles in registration of the initiative group.’

As pointed by the activist, the majority of those who refused to sign in support of his candidacy were policemen, customs officers or border guards who stated they were ‘off politics’.

I.Kruk expressed the conviction that the local authorities would intervene at the following stages of the lection campaign as well as they have nominated two candidates for running at his constituency.

Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections