Hrodna candidates banned to hold pickets in populous places

Considering the low amount of locations for holding pre-election pickets with declarative principle, Hrodna United Civil Party candidates Yury Istomin, Dzmitry Bandarchuk, Iryna skrabutan and Natallia Komar addressed the city executive committee with an application for holding pickets in a number of populous places. The applicants referred to Article 45 of the Electoral Code and Article 5 of the Law on Mass Actions. However, their demands were turned down by Hrodna authorities. The official replies signed by deputy chair of the committee Ms. Senchankova argue that holding pickets in locations other than specified by the committee’s decision is prohibited.

It should also be noted that there have been numerous reported facts of the opposition candidates’ posters being stripped off, the other candidates’ leaflets remaining undamaged.

‘Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections’