Opinions & Interviews

CEC chair suggests dates for parliamentary elections in Belarus

MINSK, 30 July (BelTA) – At the meeting with Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko on 30 July, Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus Lidia Yermoshina suggested holding elections to the Council of the Republic on 7 November and elections to the House of Representatives on 17 November, BelTA has learned.

Aleksandr Lukashenko gave an instruction to study these proposals, update him on the progress and prepare adequate draft decrees. “The head of state suggested fine-tuning these proposals taking into account the opinion of local authorities. He also suggested presenting these draft decrees with specific dates by next Monday (I think the election campaign will start on 5 August),” Lidia Yermoshina said.

Speaking about the financing of the election campaigns, the CEC chair noted that “elections in Belarus are held in the most frugal way”. “This is the wish of the president and the public. Per capita spending on elections is several times lower in Belarus than that in the neighboring states,” she noted.

Slightly more funds will be earmarked for the forthcoming parliamentary elections compared with the 2016 parliamentary election campaign. “The rise in the average salary led to the insignificant increase in spending. In 2016 a member of a precinct election commission got Br60, this year they will get Br76 each,” Lidia Yermoshina said.

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