English

All prominent activists of “Tell the Truth!” movement in provinces denied registration as candidates in March’s local elections

Authorities have denied registration as candidates in March’s local elections to all prominent activists of the “Tell the Truth!” movement in the provinces, Syarhey Vaznyak, a prominent member of the movement and the Spravedlivy Mir (Just World) Belarusian Party of the Left, told reporters during a campaign event that he was holding Saturday in front of a marketplace in downtown Minsk.

According to Mr. Vaznyak, the movement established 487 candidate nomination groups and more than 300 of them were denied registration and about 80 other groups did not apply for registration because of intimidation fro authorities. “We will thus have slightly more than 100 candidates on the ballot,” he said.

Election commissions “impudently” denied registration on fake grounds, declaring ballot-access signatures invalid, Mr. Vaznyak said.

All prominent activists of the “Tell the Truth!” movement in the provinces, such as Lidziya Sahidullina and Aksana Samuylava, were barred from the elections, while contenders who authorities deemed to have a slim chance of being elected were granted access to the ballot, Mr. Vaznyak said.

Out of the 17 nominees of the movement in Minsk, only four were registered as candidates, he noted, adding that he himself was granted registration only because he had been nominated by the party, not through the collection of ballot-access signatures. //BelaPAN