Events

MINSK, 21 February (BelTA) – Candidates seeking election to the local councils of deputies will be able to campaign until 22 March (included), BelTA learnt from Secretary of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus Nikolai Lozovik.

According to the CEC Secretary, local election candidates could embark on campaigning as soon as they got registered (registration took place on 11-20 February) and received certificates.

Nikolai Lozovik spoke about the new rules of campaigning that were formalized by the amendments to the electoral laws. “The most important of them is the ban to boycott elections. This ban applies to candidates and all other citizens,” the CEC Secretary said.

According to the new rules, the campaigning expenses will be undertaken by local territorial and district election commissions. They will publish information leaflets and will send them to voters together with an invitation to visit polling stations. Nikolai Lozovik reminded that candidates running for a seat at the Minsk City Council of Deputies as well as the district and municipal councils got an opportunity to establish their fighting funds and use the money of these funds for campaigning purposes, for example, for publishing additional leaflets.

Candidates running for a seat at local councils are entitled to use state-run mass media outlets for campaign advertising free of charge. According to the election plan, local executive and regulatory bodies must have already decided on the places where candidates and their proxies will be able to hold rallies, picketing and meetings with their voters.