Opposition members display greater activity for this year's local elections

Three years ago, only some 20 oppositionists became members of the territorial and constituency electoral commissions. This year, the figure has grown four times. 15 representatives of the opposition have become members of the territorial electoral commissions (1495). 72 opposionists will work as members of constituency electoral commissions (367). The number of members of opposition parties in the electoral commissions has grown 76 times this year. There was only one person during the local elections in 2007, Central Election Commission secretary Mikalai Lazavik told the European Radio for Belarus.

It will be difficult for the representatives of the opposition to monitor the results of thye polls in the territorial and constituency commission. Possibly, that's why they were included into those commission easily enough, says election expert Siarhei Alfer:

“The thing is that the vote count takes place at the local electoral commissions, not at the territorial or constituency commissions. Territorial commission simply receive the protocols from local commissions and make a generalized report. Of course, the presence of opposition members makes the work of the commission more transparent, but, unfortunately, these commission cannot fully control the results of the polls. Perhaps, the representatives of pro-democracy political structures were quietly allowed to become members of those commissions”.

With the total drop in the number of those wishing to become deputies, there has been a slight increase in the number of pro-democracy candidates. As of today, 16860 nomination groups have been registered across Belarus (in 2007 — 24410). Nearly 700 nomination grousps from the opposition have filed their applications (in 2007 — 600).

The registration of candidates for the seats on local councils will end on March 15. The elections will take place on April 25.