BPF Mazyr member to appeal registration refusal

Uladzimir Tseliapun, member of the Belarusian Popular Front party, lodged a complaint with the Homel Regional Election Commission, after he was refused registration as a candidate for the Homel Regional Council and the Mazyr District Council due to the activist’s failure to declare a land parcel in his income statement.

The activist argues that the refusals were based on misleading information provided by Homel department on land cadastre, who later admitted the data were out-of-date and the land had not been in Mr. Tseliapun’s possession since 2005.

In turn, the Mazyr District Election Commission claimed that in two out of 11 signature sheets collected by the activist’s campaign teams the team members failed to state the name of the town and therefore refused registration to the candidate. However, the commission should have checked the remaining 9 sheets with no regard to the fake signatures, as provided by Article 68-4 and Article 67-2 of the Electoral Code.

‘Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections’