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Candidate nomination stage begins in elections for Council of Republic

The candidate nomination stage in the elections for the Council of the Republic began on August 2.

Candidates for the upper parliamentary chamber may be nominated by the presidiums of district and city soviets, as well as district and city executive committees.

People are always elected to the Council of the Republic in uncontested votes as each local soviet and executive committee nominates only one candidate who has been proposed by the government.

Mikalay Lazavik, secretary of the central election commission, said that people seeking a seat on the Council of the Republic could apply to local soviets and executive committees for nomination. "But as a rule they nominate only one candidate," he said.

The candidate registration stage will take place between September 1 and 5.

Members of the Council of the Republic are to be elected by base-level soviets in each region and the Minsk City Soviet between September 6 and 25.

Each of the six regions and the city of Minsk are represented by eight members in the Council of the Republic. Eight more members of the upper chamber are appointed by the head of state. //BelaPAN