Belarus parliament elections

MINSK, 6 September (BelTA) – 488 candidates are standing in the elections to the Belarusian Parliament by the start of early voting, according to the website of the Belarusian Central Election Commission (CEC), BelTA informs.

Initially 521 people were registered to stand in the parliamentary elections. Later, four more appealed their candidate status (three were registered by court decision and another one by decision of the regional election commission). One candidate had his registration canceled because he did not want to take vacation during the election period, as required by law. Other participants of the parliamentary campaign (36) withdrew on their own volition citing health, family and work reasons.

The elections to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus will be held on 11 September. Early voting started at 10a.m. on 6 September and will continue until 7 p.m. on 10 September. Citizens who will not be able to vote in the place of residence on the main voting day can take advantage of early voting. Formal confirmation of the reasons for the inability to come to the polls on the main voting day is not required.

Previously, the CEC head Lidia Yermoshina explained that in case of withdrawal of candidates from the election race during the early voting period, changes in the ballot paper are made by hand. Opposite the name of the candidate the local election commission shall write the word “withdrawn”. “We cannot reprint the ballots. We have no time for this, and this is quite expensive. More so, a candidate has no time limitations: he may withdraw the day before 11 September and on the voting day,” Lidia Yermoshina said.