Will presidential elections take place next year?
The date of the All-Belarusian Congress has not been appointed yet, deputies have not invited Yarmoshyna to their special session and a gala concert “Belarus is
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