Some 20 candidates to the House of Representatives of the Belarusian parliament have withdrawn from the election race, Mikalai Lazavik, Secretary of the Central Election Commission (CEC), told journalists.
Initially, the number of registered parliamentary candidates reached 521. Another four candidates were registered later by the decision of district election commissions.
“Nineteen candidates have withdrawn from the race. We have been informed that one more candidate has decided to drop out of the elections. However, we do not have exact information on the subject yet,” the official said.
As a result, more than 500 candidates are running for 110 seats in the House of Representatives. The CEC, however, notes that the number still may change.
On August 8th, the district election commission refused to register Ales Lahvinets, the deputy chairman of the Movement “For Freedom”, as candidate for the House of Representatives’ election referring to “voters’ complaints”.
His initiative group had two warnings: for pre-election rally with white-red-white flags on the ring road and a picket to collect signatures in Sukharava, where Lyavon Volski performed. The CEC believes that the politician “buys off voters” – he distributed “Narodnaya Volya” newspaper and leaflets with a picture of the politician. It is illegal to campaign at the stage of signature collection.
The politician considers this decision to be politically motivated.
The 2016 prliamentary election in Belaru is to be held on September, 11.
