On Wednesday evening, wannabe presidential candidate Viktar Babaryka announced that his team had collected over 50,000 signatures for his nomination.
“That is a real deed. You have had more than 50,000 signatures within three days, according to the information we’ve got,” he told his associates.
It is the first time in the history of Belarus that tens of thousands of people have expressed their support for a potential nominee for such a short period of time, Babaryka claims.
Last week, the Belarusian Central Election Commission (CEC) registered 15 of 55 initiative groups. It means that over a dozen wannabe candidates got the green light for collecting signatures to be nominated for the 2020 presidential run. There are both establishment and moderate opposition politicians among them.
To officially become a presidential candidate, a contender must get 100,000 signatures for his/her nomination. The initiative groups are to be engaged in collecting signatures from May, 21 to June, 19. The names of the candidates will be announced in mid July, and the election will be held on August, 9.
Philanthropist and banker Viktar Babaryka had been Chairman of Belgazprombank Board since 2000. On May 12, when he revealed his presidential ambitions, he voluntarily resigned from his senior management job.
