the Central election Commission of Belarus today hot time. On the last day of registration of initiative groups of presidential candidates, the CEC had to make a decision on registration of candidates. 15 may have been as many as 34 statements. On the eve passed the required paper and the initiative group of the incumbent President Lukashenko. This time the competition the head of state, who for the sixth time is the presidential election, decided to make four entrepreneurs, four bloggers, two ex-official, 9 representatives of the parties, including the opposition, the pensioner, the unemployed and some group called “protest candidates” consisting of 24 people.
“protest Candidates”, however, was eliminated at the first stage, the CEC did not accept their documents. Not format because. Do not fit into the system and two of the blogger – Sergei tikhanovski, which has a YouTube-channel “Country life”, and Vitaly Zelkovsky known as “the harsh Belarusian”.
the Group Tikhanovski not registered due to the lack of his signature on the documents, which could not be, because right now he is serving his sentence in the detention center. And Shelkovskom was denied due to the fact that he sent the documents by email and not brought in person. Quarantine quarantine, and the rules must be respected…But retired Nepomnyashchikh check passed.
Policy, in contrast to farmers, and bloggers, the rules apply well-know, so long as their registration is not refused. In the next stage they have to collect 100 signatures before June 19. It is clear that to do this only for those who have a powerful initiative group and experience. And this, of course, time-tested party of the UCP (United civil party), which participated in all the presidential elections in Belarus – with disastrous results, but no one in this country, but Lukashenko had happened.
this time the party have the attitude already two candidates – the acting Chairman of the United civil party Mikalai Kazlou, who is the party primaries for the nomination of a single candidate from the opposition, and Anna konopacka, which in 2016 was held in the Parliament of the party, but now became a common candidate and has gone on elections independently. Have experience of the presidential elections and the movement “Tell the truth” that the election will be represented by co-chair Andrei Dmitriyev. Two candidates from this movement participated in the previous presidential election: Vladimir Nyaklyaeu in 2010, and Tatiana Karatkevich in 2015.
the Most experienced candidate in this cavalcade, of course, Mikalai Statkevich, the head of the Belarusian social-democratic party. He ran for election in 2010. But on election night, when we were going to go to the protest rally against rigged results, received the baton on the head from the law enforcementth. He was arrested and has been imprisoned for 6 years. He’s one of the few arrested that night of the presidential candidates who did not write a petition for pardon to Lukashenka, some times went on hunger strike in a colony and came out undefeated. Now he is ready again to challenge Lukashenko.
it is Clear that in the current environment, even to reach the second stage of the election campaign, many will not be easy. But still the number of people willing to wrestle with the head of Belarus, 26 years in power, has surprised even the head of the Central election Commission Lydia Yermoshina. According to her, she thought that the current campaign “will be Valencay”. And now they have a few days to work, only to deal with the initiative groups.
