Authorities are not going to issue money for agitation leaflets no more, NGOs won't be given the right to nominate candidates for Parliament
Aliaksandr Lukashenka has held a
council on the amendment of the electoral legislation.
It's
quite strange that this topic is considered now. Maybe, it could be
considered as a part of the new list of promises and proposals
prepared by the authorities for the West. However, the proposed
amendments are of predominantly restrictive nature.
Interestingly
enough, opinions on the electoral system were voiced not only by
Lukashenka and the head of the Central Election Commission Lidziya
Yarmoshyna, but also by the Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makei, the
head of the Presidential Administration Andrei Kabiakou, the speaker
of the Chamber of Representatives Uladzimir Andreichanka, the state
secretary of the Security Soviet Leanid Maltsau and even the head of
the Minsk Region Executive Committee Barys Batura.
"We
don't aim at changing something. We are discussing the development of
the legislation. We will consider the proposals and will accept them
if they suit us, or reject them if they are unsuitable," said
Lukashenka.
The first interesting circumstance is that the
national NGOs will not be given the right to nominate candidates on
par with political parties. If such right was given to them – the
Belarusian Language Society, the Belarusian Association of
Journalists, the Union of Poles in Belarus and the like would receive
the right to nominate candidates for the Parliament and other
elective bodies. At the same time, this opportunity could be used by
"Belaya Rus" and other pro-governmental
organizations.
Though Yarmoshyna said that "opponents of
the authorities are satisfied with this decision," but her words
should be understood vice-versa.
The proposal on holding
parliamentary elections in one voting and election of MPs by the
simple majority of votes was supported. In fact, during Lukashenka's
presidency the second voting was not practiced.
Yarmoshyna
also proposed to prohibit the opposition to agitate for election
boycott. In 2012 this technique was used by the UCP and BPF. The
campaign seems to be successful enough to disturb the high-rank
officials.
Another supported proposal was to make the
candidates pay for the agitation leaflets instead of spending the
budget finances on it.
The officials decided to return to the
question of elections in May.
