Posted:
20.02.2024 10:18:00
Electing deputies together
The current election campaign is characterised by high-quality novelty and has a deep meaning
The President of Belarus,
Aleksandr Lukashenko,
“Following Russia’s example, we have also established a constitutionally unified voting day. On this day, deputies of the parliament and local councils will be elected. We have preserved regional, district, and rural councils, as it was in Soviet times. And on March 17th, presidential elections will be held in Russia. The period is not easy, but as you can see, it is passing quietly.
I am confident that we will approach these dates
calmly and will conduct these events just as calmly.”
At the meeting of the Union State Supreme State
Council in St. Petersburg, on January 29th, 2024
Aleksandr Lukashenko,
“Following Russia’s example, we have also established a constitutionally unified voting day. On this day, deputies of the parliament and local councils will be elected. We have preserved regional, district, and rural councils, as it was in Soviet times. And on March 17th, presidential elections will be held in Russia. The period is not easy, but as you can see, it is passing quietly.
I am confident that we will approach these dates
calmly and will conduct these events just as calmly.”
At the meeting of the Union State Supreme State
Council in St. Petersburg, on January 29th, 2024
Candidates have been identified
The results of the registration of candidates for deputies of the House of Representatives and local Councils were announced to journalists by Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Igor Karpenko, “To date, 265 candidates will compete for 110 parliamentary seats in the House of Representatives. Ten of them are under the ageof 31. The youngest candidate is 23 years old. 92 candidates are women.”
In addition, the CEC Chairman noted that four pensioners are nominated for deputies of the Parliament, the oldest being 66 years old, as well as one unemployed.
“In general, the competition for a seat in the House of Representatives is 2.4 people per seat,” Igor Karpenko said.
As for the candidates for local Councils of deputies — 18,802 people will run for 12,514 seats. “This is about 1.5 people per seat. That is, there is a certain competition here,” the head of the Central Election Commission underlined.
Actively, competitively and openly
Thus, competition in the 2024 elections is recorded in every constituency. Two–three people in each constituency have been nominated as candidates for deputies of regional Councils of deputies of the twenty-ninth convocation. Along with that, as many as six candidates have been nominated for the elections to the Minsk City Council of Deputies in one of the constituencies.As for the election of deputies to the House of Representatives, the competition here will be even more serious. On the whole, from two to four candidates for the deputy mandate have been nominated in each constituency in the regions, while in Minsk, five candidates have been nominated in one of the constituencies, and six candidates in another. The current election campaign will be held for the first time and will have a serious analytical component.
A scientific expert council at the Central Election Commission has been formed, which will help the CEC to analyse the legislation enforcement during the elections.
High level of election campaign organisation
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) observation mission is monitoring preparations for the upcoming elections of deputies to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus of the eighth convocation (scheduled for February 25th, 2024) at the invitation of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it has published an interim report on its observations.As of February 19th, 228 observers representing the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the CIS, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia, the Standing Committee of the Union State, and the Executive Committee of the CIS have been accredited to the mission.
According to the mission, the Central and lower election commissions are taking the necessary measures to prepare and hold the elections at a high organisational level and in strict accordance with the country’s legislation. Candidates have equal conditions for campaigning. Electoral commissions of all levels and the media provide comprehensive information support for the election campaign.
The observers had to be accredited by February 20th — that is, before the start of early voting. As of February 19th, more than 37 thousand national and about 300 international observers from the CIS, the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, the CSTO and the SCO have been accredited.By Maksim Osipov
