Supreme Court turns down two more appeals against non-registration of opposition candidates
Vitsebsk activist of the civil campaign “Tell The
Truth” Siarhei Parsiukevich was going to run at Vitsebsk-Kastrychnitskaya
constituency #20. However, the constituency election commission didn't register
his candidacy, stating that a part of the signatures in his support were
invalid. The Central Election Commission and the Supreme Court upheld this
decision.
Civil activist Ryhor Hryk intended to run at Baranavichy-Eastern election
constituency #6. However, the constituency election commission declared that
18% of the signatures in support of his nomination which were chosen for
verification were invalid. On 27 August the decision not to register his
candidacy was supported by the Central Election Commission, and on 5 September
– by the Supreme Court.
Mr. Hryk says that the real reason for the non-registration is the fear of the
local authorities that he could become a strong rival to the pro-governmental
candidate Aliaksandr Stsiatsko.
Siarhei Parsiukevich also says that one could hardly expect any other decisions
from the Supreme Court: “I brought to the court statements of the people who
had put the signatures which were found invalid – all of them confirmed having
signed in support of my nomination. However, the judge hardly took a look at
these papers and stated that the study of written evidence was over. All
instances took the side of the constituency commission. However, the commission
used invalid information itself. For instance, one of the signatures was found
invalid as a person's residence was registered in another place. We came there,
had a look at the passport – the residence was registered on the specified
address. It means that the passport service provided distorted information to
the constituency election commission,” commented the activist.
Mr. Parsiukevich is sure that the authorities didn't intend to register him at
all, as he is quite a well-known person in the city: “We have visited many yards
and houses while collecting signatures to solve various daily issues. As a
result of actions of “Tell the Truth!” traffic lights were set up on Smalenskaya Street
where some people had perished in car accidents. Thus, I would have gained
quite a number of votes if registered. Most probably, this thwarted the plans
of the authorities,” says Siarhei Parsiukevich.
“Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”
