Candidates receive certificates and are given two hours for “live” debates

The Central Election Commission gave out 10 certificates to presidential candidates on November 18. At the beginning of the CEC meeting the CEC secretary Mikalai Lazavik drew attention to the fact that the process of collection of signatures had been organized in a very liberal and democratic way. However, it was not irreproachable.

Mikalai Lazavik: “The organizers of the election and local authorities were patient and showed restraint even in the situation when participants of pickets overstepped the limits of the Election Code and conducted some other actions passing them as collection of signatures”.

s a result only 11 imitative groups out of the 17 groups registered in September managed to send the collected signatures to go through a check-up in election committees. There were some incidents too. It turned out the Mikalai Statkevich’s initiative group had collected signatures from 20 dead people. Pravalski had only 118 valid signatures out of the 108 thousands he had collected. According to the head of the legal organization department of the Central Election Commission Nadzeya Kisyalyova, he copied the signatures with the help of a Xerox.

Nadzeya Kisyalyova: “According to the conclusion of our experts, hand-written texts and signatures in the signature sheets were copied photos created with the help of office equipment”.

Mr. Pravalski did not plead guilty, accused Vitsebsk district election committee of power abuse and promised to appeal the CEC decision to refuse his registration in the Supreme Court.

It did not help and he did not receive a candidate’s certificate. Furthermore, Lidziya Yarmoshyna noted that Pravalski could outclass even Ostap Bender.

There were no problems with the declarations presented by Kastusyou, Lukashenka, Ramanchuk, Rymasheuski, Sannikau and Statkevich. However, the CEC had some questions about the rest. According to Mikalai Lazavik, Ales Mihalevich overstated his wife’s income by 931 thousand 414 rubles last year. Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu did not confess he had 20 shares of “Paritetbank”. Victar Tsyareshchanka did not mention his VAZ on the list of property. However, it turned out that it had been stolen from him 19 years ago. Dzmitry Us understated his income by 4.5 millions. However, none of the issues became a reason to refuse registration.

All the newly-registered candidates made short speeches. Almost everyone drew attention to the unfair composition of district election committees. Kastysyou drew attention to the absence of access to official mass media and unfavourable conditions in which independent mass media had to exist. Ramanchuk claimed that it was necessary to invite all candidates to the All-Belarusian Congress instead of only Lukashenka. He also presented an album dedicated to Paris to Chairperson Lidziya Yarmoshyna. Let us remind you that Yarmoshyna is a persona non grata in the EU member states due to the sanctions imposed by the EU. Meanwhile, the official had mentioned that she a visit to Paris was her dream in an interview with ERB.


Sannikau announced a minute’s silence in memory of the missing ex-chairperson Victar Hanchar. Statkevich called the election a farce he did not want to take part in like a clown and promised he would strive for a fair election.

Tsyareshchanka and Us also had a few remarks about the election campaign.

 Only Radzkou representing candidate Lukashenka and Mihalevich expressed their gratitude.

The CEC organized a draw to define the sequence of the candidates’ speeches in mass media right after the presentation of certificates.

1. Vіctar Tsyareshchanka.
2. Yaraslau Ramanchuk
3. Uladzіmіr Nyaklyayeu
4. Alyaksandr Lukashenka
5. Ales Mіhalevіch
6. Vіtal Rymasheuskі
7. Dzmіtry Us
8. Mіkalai Statkevіch
9. Ryhor Kastusyou
10. Andrei Sannіkau.

Moreover, the CEC supported the idea of a live broadcast of candidate’s debates on TV on December 4 and in the radio on December 5.

An ERB reporter asked Alyaksandr Radzkou whether Alyaksandr Lukashenka would take part in the debates.

Alyaksandr Radzkou: “He has more opportunities and it is democratic for those who are shown on TV less often and have fewer opportunities to be published. That is why he is going to take a decision. However, he usually says it is already a lot of him everywhere”.

By the way, the television and radio have allocated only an hour of their air time to the debates. However, Lidziya Yarmoshyna confessed that it had become possible thanks to numerous appeals of presidential candidates and an appeal sent by the OSCE.

Candidates were met by adherents on their departure from the Palace of the Republic. Nyaklyayeu, Sannikau, Ramanchuk and Kastusyou’s adherents were the most active. Nyaklyayeu watched what was happening in October Square with the help of a web-camera and a notebook. He answered all the questions asked by the interested. By the way, he promised to try solving the issue of the single candidate once again as soon as he returned from the Square.

Photo by: Zmitser Lukashuk