Yarmoshyna: “Ballot boxes are transparent where money has not been spent on

First of all, the CEC secretary Mikalai Lazavik said that representatives in territorial election commissions would have to be selected by September 26. And the commissions should be created by September 29. Election centres should be ready by October 17. It will be possible to choose representatives in divisional election committees by October 31 and they will have to be created by November 3. The CEC also announced the dates of actions of potential candidates.

Mikalai Lazavik: “Lists of members of initiative groups and applications for registration should be presented until September 24. Members of initiative groups will be registered and receive their certificates and subscription lists 5 days afterwards. Candidates will have to be chosen and they should collect signatures from September 30 till October 29. New subscription lists will have to be sent to district, city and territorial commissions by October 29”.



Furthermore, presidential contenders will have to fill in a questionnaire and hand in an income and property statement by November 12. Candidates will be registered from November 13 till November 23. The agitation stage will start after that. Speaking about the early elections, they will take place from December 14 till December 18.

Lazavik also specified that contenders had been allowed to form their individual financial fund on the first day of their registration.

However, the way the funds will be filled has not been defined by the CEC yet. The head of the Central Election Commission Lidziya Yarmoshyna informed about it.

Lidziya Yarmoshyna: “The thing is we will have candidates only in two months. And we will work on it. The only thing I can tell you that that the fund should not contain a sum exceeding 300 base amounts. We are speaking about the sum of about 103 million roubles. The main term is that it should be money sponsored by Belarusian citizens and organizations. Such a fund will not be able to accept money from foreign citizens and organizations, Belarusian budget organizations and religious organizations”.



Additional advertising products will have to be published in Belarusian printing houses with this money. By the way, the state will provide each candidate with 2300 base amounts (80 million 50 thousand Belarusian roubles) for their election campaigns. In addition to it, they will be given on-air time on TV, in the radio and will get columns in newspapers.

Speaking about observers at election centres, the rules of their selection have not changed.  Mikalai lazavik said there was only one exception.

Mikalai Lazavik: “Political parties and civil associations will be able to make both their members and persons who are not members of their party or organizations their representatives”.


Lazavik has noted that a presidential contender will have the right to be present and watch the process of canvass. An ERB reporter asked Lidziya Yarmoshyna how a candidate could control the poll in every election centre.  Meanwhile, observers complained that heads of election commissions had made them stay in such places where they could see nothing during the poll at the previous elections.
Lidziya Yarmoshyna: “Candidates and observers have equal rights. Everything depends on the behaviour of members of commissions and their relations. We will work on it and make commissions allow all of them approach the table!”

Speaking about the time when we would finally have transparent ballot boxes, Yarmoshyna said it depended on the fact whether election commissions spent money on bonuses for commission members or on transparent ballot boxes.

Lidziya Yarmoshyna: “All ballot boxes in Stolin District are transparent because the money saved on elections has been spent on their production rather than on bonuses as it is done by the others. If commissions want to make more than they spend, they make ballot boxes of wood allocated by local schools and the housing and communal service departments”.

However, she said that it corresponded to international standards and to CEC decrees. The commission cannot impose anything on anyone. Yarmoshyna said that the most important thing was to seal up all ballot boxes.

The head of the CEC promised to journalists that she would send an invitation to monitor the elections to her colleagues from the Russian Central Election Commission.

Photo by Zmitser Lukashuk