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Lawmaker defends decision to call presidential elections for December

The decision to call Belarus' presidential elections for December 19 will make it possible to get down the following month to performing tasks related to the country's social and economic development, Vasil Baykow, head of the Committee on State System Building, Local Self-Government and Rules of Procedure in the House of Representatives, said at the lower chamber's session on September 14.

The lawmaker described the presidential elections as an "exceptionally important event that determines major foreign and domestic policy directions for five years."

"Holding elections at a year's beginning is not convenient as this period is full of secular and religious holidays," he said, as quoted by BelaPAN.