Secretary co Central Election Commission reported the number of contenders nominated for the local elections

As reported to the European Radio for Belarus by the CEC Secretary Mikalai Lazavik, 22,784 contenders for councils of various levels were nominated at 18,816 precincts.

“On the average, there are 1.2 contenders per seat. In Minsk, there are 4.7 contenders for one seat, in the Mahiliou region – 1.9. However, these numbers are different for different levels of councils,” stated Mr. Lazavik.

According to him, there are more than 2 contenders per seat in the regional councils, 1.5-2 contenders in the district councils, and there are precincts having just one contender in some village and town precincts.

More than 60% of contenders were nominated by collecting voters' signatures. Labor collectives nominated more than 30% of contenders, political parties – about 3%. Among the political parties, the greatest number of representatives, 1.2%, was nominated by the Communist Party of Belarus, 0.7% - by the Liberal Democratic Party, 0.5% - by the United Civil Party and 0.5% - by the Belarusian Left Party "Fair World". Other parties nominated fewer representatives.

Among the nominees, 47.3% are current members of councils, women make up 46.3%. young people – more than 5% . 28 of the nominees are citizens of Russia, 257 (1.1%) are unemployed, 671 (2.9%) are pensioners.

Let us remind that the registration of candidates started on February 11 and will last until February 20. The elections to the local councils were appointed on March 23.