"Criminals" refused membership in election commissions but make it to CEC
People jailed for participation in unauthorized actions, swearing or drinking beer in the street are called criminals and are refused membership in election
commissions.
Opposition has managed to send their people to less than 1 % of election commissions. The thing is, people having previous convictions were sent there, claims CEC spokesperson Mikalai Lazavik.
According to Lazavik, criminals are those who have been convicted according to articles of the Criminal Code and those who have been subjected to administrative responsibility before - for participation in an unauthorized action or swearing in a public place.
However, there are no laws or instructions forbidding to include such "criminals" in election commissions, admits the CEC spokesperson. But it is up to local officials to decide.
The local authorities created so many obstacles on their way that hardly anyone has managed to join election commissions. Even those who have never been subjected to administrative responsibility have not managed to do it, says Alyaksei Yanukevich, head of the BPF Party.
Still, Euroradio has found out that one criminal has managed to join an election commission. It is not a local commission but... it is the Central Election Commission. The criminal is Syarhei Kalyakin, head of "Fair World", laughs deputy head of the party Valery Uhnalyou.
Valery Uhnalyou: “We have sent Syarhei Kalyakin to the Central Election Commission. But he has been accused of swearing and subjected to administrative responsibility before. It means that he is such a mischievous person too".
Many other opposition representatives sent to election commissions are in a similar situation. Some of them were accused of political cases but none of them have been convicted for criminal or administrative cases mentioned by Lazavik.
