Belarus parliament elections

MINSK, 3 July (BelTA) – The nomination of candidates to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus kicked off on 3 July and will last through 1 August inclusively, BelTA has learned.

Candidates from political parties, labor collectives and citizens can be nominated for the seats in the lower house of the Belarusian parliament. In order to collect signatures potential candidates or their proxies should address the corresponding district election commission in order to register their initiative groups that must consist of at least 10 members.

There are 110 constituencies in the country, and the number of voters in each of them is about 63,700 people. Signatures can be collected in the venues designated for election campaign events. The candidate for the MP seat should decide which constituency he or she is going to represent in the parliament and submit documents on the registration of his/her initiative group. This must be done before 7 July. District election commissions register initiative groups and give their members the corresponding certificates and signature sheets.

The collected signatures should be submitted to the election commissions not later than 1 August. The signature sheets will then be verified. The verification process will last until the day of the candidates’ registration which is scheduled to take place from 2 to 11 August inclusively. Registration protocols will be submitted to the Central Election Commission of Belarus, with every candidate getting a certificate within two days after registration.

In order to have the right to nominate its candidate, a political party should be registered with the Justice Ministry at least six months before the elections. The decision to nominate candidates to the Belarusian parliament is taken by the supreme body of the political party. Candidates should be members of their parties which have the right to nominate only one candidate to each constituency.

For the nomination of candidates a labor collective should be a legal entity with the total personnel of at least 300 people. Nomination of candidates is held at a meeting of voters within the labor collective. The labor collective can nominate only one candidate and he or she may not be a worker of this particular organization. Such organizations should be located within the constituency where candidates are nominated.

In all the abovementioned cases candidates can be nominated only by Belarusian citizens over 18.

Election commissions will inform mass media on the persons who pass the first stage of the campaign. Election commissions will also register candidates’ proxies and financial representatives. Back accounts can be opened on the day of candidates’ registration.

Candidates can hold election campaign events from the day of their registration and through 10 September inclusively. No election campaign events are held on the election day, 11 September.