Belarus parliament elections

MINSK, 8 July (BelTA) – Belarus is in for a tight election race this autumn, Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus Lidia Yermoshina said in a video address that was posted on the CEC website on 7 July, BelTA has learned.

Lidia Yermoshina took note of an active participation of parties, especially the opposition ones, in the nomination of their candidates through the collection of signatures. “We can assume that the political race at the forthcoming elections will be rather tight. I believe voters will watch the election campaign with interest,” the CEC head said.

In her words, as of now 256 initiative groups have been registered with district election commissions. They have already embarked on collecting signatures in support of their prospective candidates for the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the sixth convocation. The majority of those who will use this method to be nominated are non-party affiliates. At the same time, more than 90 people are party representatives, Lidia Yermoshina stressed.

7 July was the deadline for submitting applications to register initiative groups with district election commissions. “Out of 396 applications filed for the registration of initiative groups, four prospective candidates were denied due to violations in the forming of an initiative group. Two more prospective candidates have withdrawn from the race,” the CEC Chairperson said.