News on the topic: local council elections-2010
21.04.2010 Mahiliou: candidate’s leaflet censored
According to Aliaksei Paulouski, running for the Mahiliou City and Regional Councils, his election leaflet has been censored by the local printing house.
21.04.2010 Syarhei Vaznyak: It is clearly seen by ballots how rigging is done in Belarus
The early vote procedure which has started in the elections to local councils of deputies of the 26th convocation, according to experts, is an entirely undemocratic procedure.
20.04.2010 Pro-state candidates use public media for canvassing
Numerous pro-government candidates running for the local councils of Mahiliou region, as well as those of the town of Polatsk, Vitsebsk region, have made extensive use of the state-owned mass media for their canvassing activities, independent observers report.
20.04.2010 Pre-election meeting with Milinkevich’s participation banned
Deputy chair of Hrodna city executive committee Iryna Senchankava banned a meeting with voters. The meeting was to be attended by Aliaksandr Milinkevich, ex-deputy chair of the committee, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports.
20.04.2010 Salihorsk: canvassing conditions vary
Salihorsk town authorities keep using various kinds of means of gumming up the election campaign of the local independent candidate Aliaksei Valabuyeu. The latest trends include stripping off the candidate’s posters. Besides, heads of local state-owned enterprises resist posting Mr. Valabuyeu’s posters on their agitation stands, despite official permit by the executive committee.
20.04.2010 Postmen ‘campaign’ for pro-state candidates
Orsha post-office staff have reportedly been used to campaign for pro-government candidates, local observers say. There have been numerous recorded facts when the town residents received leaflets of loyal candidates with their mail.
20.04.2010 Candidates violate Electoral Code, says Vitsebsk regional election commission
The Vitsebsk regional election commission considered a claim by Heorhi Stankevich, running for the Beshankovichy District Council, concerning a ban imposed on the candidate’s radio address. The Commission argues that Mr. Stankevich’s speech violated the provisions of Articles 47 and 75 of the Electoral Code, which prohibit dissemination of information that incite social hostility.
19.04.2010 Hrodna candidates banned to hold pickets in populous places
Considering the low amount of locations for holding pre-election pickets with declarative principle, Hrodna United Civil Party candidates Yury Istomin, Dzmitry Bandarchuk, Iryna skrabutan and Natallia Komar addressed the city executive committee with an application for holding pickets in a number of populous places.
19.04.2010 Smaliavichy district official mudslinging opposition candidate
According to a representative of the Radio-Electronic Industry Independent Trade Union’s Minsk regional office Mikalai Pakhabau, chair of Usiazhy village executive committee and chair of the local council Uladzimir Liutko deliberately distorted information on independent candidate Aleh Skokau at a meeting with voters in the village of Khotseneva, Smaliavichy district, on 15 April.
19.04.2010 Pro-state candidates ignore decision by Baranavichy town authorities
Candidates Siarhei Naurotski, Yury Hramakouski and Mikalai Shyrko violate decision #379 of 12 February 2010 by Baranavichy Town Executive Committee, by posting their election posters in locations banned by the authorities, local observers report.
19.04.2010 BCD candidate illegally charged and threatened with expulsion from university
Yauhen Vaskovich, journalist of the ‘Babruiski kurier’ newspaper and Belarusian Christian Democracy candidate in the local council elections, was arrested by the police for waving the national white-red-white flag at the hockey match at ‘Babruisk Arena’ on 18 April.
19.04.2010 Hlybokaye voters receive leaflets of pro-state candidate by post
Hlybokaye pro-democratic candidates keep encountering numerous obstacles in their campaigning activities, say local human rights activists. The candidates representing the unregistered Belarusian Christian Democracy Party were ordered to remove the eight-pointed star (popular Belarusian national symbol) from their election posters.
19.04.2010 BPF member quits election commission in Baranavichy
The only representative of the Belarusian Popular Front in Baranavichy officially declared his departure from election commission #29, referring to the futility of his participation on the commission, after it became known that the election in the constituency, just like in the overwhelming majority of other constituencies in the town of Baranavichy, would be non-alternative, with only one pro-government loyal candidate running for the town council seat.
19.04.2010 Verkhniadzvinsk voters receive information on candidates with delay
Article 45 of the Electoral Code requires that the information materials with the candidates’ bios should be posted outside the polling stations not later than 14 days before the day of the vote. However, the posters did not appear in the town of Verkhniadzvinsk, Vitsebsk region, until 16 April, after repeated demands by Ms. Valiantsina Kudlatskaya, member of the Belarusian Social-Democratic Party ‘Hramada’, running for the district council.
19.04.2010 Potash king declares car only, election commissions trust him
The office of the Minsk region state-owned newspaper ‘Minskaya prauda’ was phoned by a Salihorsk resident, who was indignant at the fact that the only property declared by Valery Kiryenka, head manager of the Belaruskali major enterprise, running for Minsk Regional Council, was a car. At the same time, his annual income amounts to BYR 156,000,000.
