Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 9 January (BelTA) – The elections to the local councils in Belarus are becoming more active and less elitist, Chairperson of the Central Election Commission Lidia Yermoshina said in an interview to ONT TV channel, BelTA has learned.

“The elections are becoming more active and less elitist. Earlier, we had only a narrow group of people, mainly related to politics. Today, we can see people engaged in business who are eager to take part in the elections. The education and cultural areas show the biggest representation, the social sector makes up some 25%,” Lidia Yermoshina noted.

There are many young people among potential candidates. In the Belarusian capital every seventh person among those submitting documents for registration is under 30.

The registration of candidates to the local councils of the 28^th convocation began in Belarus on 9 January. The data on the Belarusian capital is only available for now. More than six people per seat are expected in Minsk. It is 1.5 times more than there was during the previous campaign.

This stage of the elections will run until 18 January. The exact number of citizens who have nominated for the participation in the political campaign of 2018 will be announced later.

According to the data available for the end of December 2017, more than 7,700 people were nominated as candidates to the local council of deputies.

The registration will be followed by an election campaign which will run until 17 February, inclusively. The elections are scheduled for 18 February. More than 18,000 members of the local councils are expected to be elected.

A total of 22,700 members of the local councils were elected at the previous elections in 2014.