Presidential election 2015 in Belarus

MINSK, 17 July (BelTA) – The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus registered three initiative groups to nominate candidates to the post of the President of Belarus, namely Alexander Lukashenko, Sergei Kalyakin and Sergei Gaidukevich, on 17 July, BelTA has learned.

The initiative group to nominate Alexander Lukashenko has included 10,577 people. The initiative group to nominate Sergei Kalyakin was to comprise 1,511 people. However, one stateless person was excluded from the group. The group to nominate Sergei Gaidukevich has comprised 2,484 citizens. However, a decision was taken to exclude three persons from it as two of them were under 18 and one person had the Russian citizenship.

As was reported, according to the latest data, the CEC has received the documents to register ten initiative groups from 14 to 16 July.

Under the legislation, the CEC must make these decisions within five days after the documents on the establishment of an initiative group are filed. The Central Election Commission shall refuse to register an initiative group if the electoral code has been violated. The right to appeal against the refusal to register an initiative group belongs to the person seeking nomination as a candidate. This complaint shall be filed to the Supreme Court within three days from the date the decision to deny registration is taken.

A person, who is a natural-born citizen of the Republic of Belarus, who is 35 years old, eligible to vote, and has resided in Belarus for 10 years, can run for the presidency. Persons with a previous conviction cannot run for the presidency. An initiative group can include only voters, in other words, citizens of the Republic of Belarus, who are at least 18 years old. Citizens recognized by court as legally incompetent and citizens serving their sentence in penitentiary facilities are not allowed to take part in an election.