News on the topic: local council elections-2010
23.04.2010 Heads of Polatsk state enterprises forced to report on early vote turnout
Heads of Polatsk state enterprises and institutions have to report on the number of their employees who take part in the early vote to the town executive committee daily. There is not much pressure recorded yet, but there have been cases when people are recommended to vote early, since it is their ‘civil duty’.
23.04.2010 Hrodna pro-state candidates abuse office for canvassing
The pro-government candidates of Hrodna region have had an extensive use of their administrative resources and the public mass media to maintain their canvassing activities. ‘Hrodzenskaya prauda’ newspaper was especially active: in its issue of 21 April the journalist Mikalai Shlyk advertises the activities of his own boss – Alena Berasniova, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief and deputy of the Hrodna Regional Council.
23.04.2010 Chair of Zelva district executive committee threatens candidate
On 22 April chair of Zelva district executive committee Valiantsin Semianiaka threatened the local independent candidate Yauhen Skrabutan, as he was observing the process of early voting at one of the town’s polling stations.
23.04.2010 Canvassing poster of BPF Vitsebsk candidate found ruffianly
The administrations of two Vitsebsk schools #40 and #43 refused to post the election leaflets of Aliaksandr Kuzniatsou, Belarusian Popular Front member, running for the Vitsebsk Regional Council, after the posters were found ‘ruffian-like’. The officials argued that the posters had a picture of a New Year tree with a white-red-white national flag on top of it, which was considered inadmissible.
22.04.2010 Baranavichy pro-state candidates ignore decision by town authorities
The pro-government candidates Mikalai Astashka, Henadz Valynets, Maryna Matsiuk, Viachaslau Dunkovich, and some other loyal candidates, keep violating decision #379 of 12 February 2010 by Baranavichy town executive committee, by posting their election leaflets in populous places.
22.04.2010 Orsha: undercover canvassing in local newspaper
‘Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections’ have already reported numerous facts of state-owned newspapers campaigning for loyal candidates across the country. Another sample of hidden agitation can be found in the local newspaper of Orsha district.
22.04.2010 Homel: police and election commissions powerless?
The Homel activists of the unregistered Belarusian Christian Democracy party keep drawing the attention of the local police to the numerous violations of the Electoral Code by pro-state candidates. According to the BCD’s Homel regional coordinator Kastus Zhukouski, the leaflets of the party’s candidates are repeatedly posted over by the posters of pro-government candidates.
22.04.2010 CEC Chair sees no need in regulating vote count procedures
On 9 April, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee addressed the Central Election Commission with a demand for explanations on the process of vote count by each member of the election commission, since the Electoral Code fails to specify the manes of vote count, neither does it provide for the distribution of responsibilities between the members of the commission during the count.
22.04.2010 Opposition activist Volha Karach removed from local election race in Vitsebsk
Volha Karach, a prominent activist who was running for a seat at the Vitsebsk City Council, was removed from the election race on the first day of the early voting.
21.04.2010 UCP Hrodna candidate detained by road police
On 21 April, Hrodna road police detained the United Civil Party activist Dzmitry Bandarchuk, who is running for the city council. The candidate was told a car similar to his had been spotted in a road accident back on 17 April. As a result, his car was searched. The actual reasons for the search are unknown.
21.04.2010 CEC chair Yarmoshyna indirectly admits violations by Baranavichy town election commission
On 20 April Mikalai Charnavus, who was refused registration as a candidate, received a reply to his complaint from the Central Election Commission, signed by the Commission’s chair Lidzia Yarmoshyna.
21.04.2010 Babruisk election commission members ordered to secure 80 % turnout
Members of one of Babruisk local election commissions were ordered to secure 80 % of voters’ turnout, says one of the commissioners. Besides, some of the candidates were ordered to be sunk, including Mikhail Karalkou, head of the Belarusian Free Trade Union, who is running for the town council.
21.04.2010 Authorities tried to break pre-election picket, says candidate Finkevich
Artur Finkevich, the Young Belarus youth movement leader, who is running for the Minsk City Council, claims that the local authorities tried to break the candidate’s canvassing event on 18 April outside the ‘Druzhba’ cinema in the Chyzhouka microdistrict of Minsk.
21.04.2010 Polatsk: meetings only with pro-state candidates
In 9 out of 32 constituencies of the town of Polatsk, with more than one candidates running for the local council seats, it is only the pro-state one whose meeting with voters is advertised by the local state-run newspaper ‘Polatski vesnik’.
21.04.2010 Krychau voters still unaware of pro-state candidates’ income data
There is no information on the incomes of the pro-state candidates, running for the Krychau District Council, says Siarhei Niarouny, editor-in-chief of the ‘Volny horad’ local independent newspaper, who is also running for both the district and the regional councils.
