Supreme Court turns down appeal against non-registration of candidate

On 4 September the Supreme Court considered an appeal of Aksana Samuilava, an activist of the “Tell the Truth” civil campaign from Mahiliou, against the decisions of a constituency election commission and the Central Election Commission not to register her as a candidate for the Parliament.

The alleged reason for the registration denial was the alleged discovery of 60 invalid signatures among the 350 which were chosen for verification. The prospective candidate brought signers’ statements that they had really signed in her support, but these documents were ignored.

Thus, the ruling of the Supreme Court didn’t become a surprise for Aksana Samuilava, as well as the decision of the Central Election Commission to back the constituency election commission:

“If I had been registered, I would be a too strong candidate in Babruisk. We collected signatures, held pickets and talked to people, which was our main goal. The registration denial is a very positive evaluation of our work by representatives of authority,” commented the activist.

“Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”