English

Almost 100 members of Belarusian Popular Front set to run in local elections

 

Ninety-nine members of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) have already confirmed their intention to run in next year’s elections for local soviets, Deputy Chairman Ryhor Kastusyow said at a meeting of the opposition party’s Soym (Council) in Minsk on December 7.

He said that some 150 BPF activists had originally announced plans to run in the local elections.

Another deputy chairman, Ihar Lyalkow, noted that the “list is not too large considering the number of soviet seats.” He urged the party’s members to run for the regional soviets “in order to reach out to as many people as possible.”

Belarusians laws do not ban a person from running for soviets of different levels simultaneously, he said.

Mr. Lyalkow said that the BPF and a number of other opposition parties and groups would hold a campaign to observe the local elections. “This will be a campaign for our candidates,” he said. “The observers will be part of the candidate’s campaign team. This will not be an independent observation campaign like those held by human rights defenders. This will be a biased campaign where the observers will be aware that the authorities seek to bar independent candidates from soviets.”

The local elections will take place on March 23, 2014. //BelaPAN