Belarus parliament elections

MINSK, 12 August (BelTA) – Optimum timing has been chosen for the elections to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus Lidia Yermoshina said during the online conference Parliamentary Elections 2016 hosted by BelTA on 12 August.

“We have no right to postpone the elections. We are holding them within the most possible constitutional timeframe,” Lidia Yermoshina said as she commented on the remark that August is not a good time for the campaign because people often go abroad (or to the countryside) on vocation, and therefore they will be unable to carefully study all the candidates’ programs and will miss out on the main period of the election campaign.

According to the CEC head, setting the election campaign for an earlier date (for instance, spring – BelTA’s note) would draw even more criticism. “First of all, we would limit the term of office of MPs by practically six months. Secondly, there would have been complaints about early elections from our opposition. I think the authorities have chosen the lesser of two evils here,” Lidia Yermoshina said.