No 'elegant victory' in Barysau?

The Barysau district election commission headed by Mikalai Zeliankevich refused to register pensioner Tamara Kavazhenka as a candidate for the district Council of Deputies. Thanks to her active struggle for solving the problem of impoundment of the yards of the Dymki suburb, the woman became quite popular among the local dwellers and earned their respect. That's why she easily collected more than 500 signatures in support of her candidacy.

The woman intends to run at the same election constituency with colonel Valer Hnilazub, who can lose as a result. The commission didn’t dare to pick on the signatures put by the local dwellers who are indignant at the constant inaction of the local authorities. Instead of it, the pensioner wasn't registered for haven’t mentioned in her income declaration a lot of land owned by her.

This is an evidently wiredrawn reason, as the lot is not owned by the pensioner, but is just in life tenure. However, members of the Barysau district executive commission ignored this fact.

The pensioner applied to the Central election commission and the regional election commission. Her case received a large publicity. As a result, the Minsk regional election commission reversed the decision of the Barysau district election commission and registered Tamara Kavazhenka as a candidate for the Barysau district Council of Deputies at election constituency #7.

Maybe, the victory won't be easy and elegant for colonel Hnilazub now.

Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections