Baranavichy: ruling about formation of precinct commissions is appealed at court
On 5 November the Chairperson of the Baranavichy town organization of the
Belarusian Language Society (BLS) Viktar Syrytsa (pictured) applied to the
Baranavichy Town Court with a complaint against the ruling of the Baranavichy
Town Executive Committee (TEC) concerning the formation of the precinct
election commissions on the territory of the town.
The reason is that the town organization of the BLS had nominated to the PECs its representatives Siarhei
Housha, Ryhor Hryk and Karnei Piatrovich. However, none of them were included
in the commissions. As the BLS members point in their complaint, the
Baranavichy TEC adopted the compositions of 66 precinct election commissions
for 6 minutes. The present officials voted for the lists of members of all PECs at once, without
discussing any of the candidacies. The BLS representatives, who were present at
the sitting, didn’t receive an answer why they weren’t included in the
commissions.
In his complaint Viktar Syrytsa argues that according to the Electoral Code the
number of members in a precinct commission can vary from 5 to 19. However, none
of the formed PECs
have the maximal number of members. The nominated representatives of the
Belarusian Language Society are well-known public activists who have a great
experience of participation in electoral campaigns of different levels
(S.Housha and K.Piatrovich even participated in international election
observation missions). Therefore, there were good reasons to include them in
the election commissions.
In his complaint Mr. Syrytsa asks the court to declare invalid the ruling of the Baranavichy TEC of 3 November and to oblige the committee to adopt a new ruling, according to which representatives of the Belarusian Language Society will be included in the PECs.
Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections
