Weekly Analytical Report: August 1-7
Observation is carried out by activists of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights Center “Viasna” in the framework of the campaign Human Rights Defenders For Free Elections
CONCLUSIONS
- on August 2, the election authorities completed the procedure of receiving nominations from potential candidates. According to the CEC, 630 candidates were nominated in 110 constituencies. Half of them (50.6%) were nominated by political parties, 32% — by citizens through signature-collecting campaigns, 17.4% — by labor collectives. 23% of the nominated applicants are women. 4.4% of the total number of nominated candidates are active members of Parliament;
- with one exception, all the actors involved in the electoral process could apply for registration to the corresponding DECs without significant obstacles;
- as in earlier elections, observers of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” were, in most cases, denied the opportunity to observe the verification of signatures submitted in support of nominations;
- meetings of the DECs convened to verify the signatures, as before, were held behind closed doors, which prevented observers from monitoring the procedure. According to experts of the campaign "Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections", the opacity of the signature verification procedures creates opportunities for manipulation and politically motivated approach in refusing or allowing the registration of a particular candidate;
- local executive bodies decided on the list of locations for election meetings with voters. Most of these decisions improved the conditions for election campaigning, as compared to earlier elections, while in some cities the approaches of local government bodies were restrictive;
- during the week, courts across Belarus heard several appeals against decisions of the executive committees to deny membership in the PECs. According to the campaign "Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections", district courts considered 13 complaints, of which none was granted. Observers report lack of complete official information on the number of complaints submitted to the election commissions of different levels and the courts. The websites of local executive bodies, in the majority of cases, failed to publish such information. Similarly, the data are not available on the CEC website;
- in general, the elections continue to attract little public attention. Publications in the state-owned media were largely limited to general information or materials about pro-government candidates, covering their social and professional activities, which in some cases constituted hidden campaigning.
