Will presidential elections take place next year?

The date of the IV All-Belarusian Congress has not been appointed yet. However, the senior deputy of the head of the President’s Administration Natallya Pyatkevich has informed ERB that the date has to be appointed at one of the next meetings of the steering committee.

Pyatkevich: “No, it has not been appointed yet. The issue will be discussed by the steering committee. The decision will be taken at one of its meetings”.

According to Pyatkevich, it is impossible to predict whether the meeting will take place before or after the New Year’s Day. Let us remind you that the All-Belarusian Congress was conducted right before the presidential elections in 2006. Probably, the two events will also be close to each other this time.

Let us note that Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed a decree about the preparation for the national congress in May. The head of the Administration Ulazdimir Makei and Prime Minister Syarhei Sidorski were appointed co-chairmen of the steering committee. Suggestions about the date of the congress and the number of its participants had to be presented to the state leader by July 1.

The date of the congress may depend on the date of the elections. Deputies may appoint it at a special session of the House of Representatives on September 14. In this case, the voting will be organized before the New Year’s Day. However, the elections issue is not on the agenda. Furthermore, the head of the Central Election Commission Lidziya Yarmoshyna has not been invited to the meeting and the CEC secretary Mikalai Lazavik will leave for Vienna. He has informed about it in an interview with ERB.

Lazavik: “Higher officials are usually invited at the opening of sessions. As far as I know, Yarmoshyna has not been invited to the second meeting. I have not been invited there either. I am getting ready for another event now. I will leave for Vienna this week to take part in an OSCE conference dedicated to electronic voting issues”.
The CEC secretary has noted that he does not know whether the elections will be discussed at the second meeting of the special session. Let us remind you that it will take place on September 14.

Deputies may also appoint the date at the regular session on October 2. However, the voting will take place next year in this case. Furthermore, Lidziya Yarmoshyna is satisfied with Febryary6 and has claimed it many times.

Lidziya Yarmoshyna: “I am totally satisfied with February 6 and I like this date. It allows the session to start, to have a rest and to start working according to the usual schedule. I think this date is optimal”.

By the way, a gala concert of Belarusian stars “Belarus is us!” is appointed for February, the Ministry of Culture has informed ERB about it. It will take place in “Minsk-Arena”. Let us remind you that similar concerts with a motto “For Belarus” took place before the previous elections. The final show was organized 9 days before the elections.

Photo by: www.ucpb.org