Nominee-seat Ratio Reduced Almost by Half

A comment by editor Kirill Poznyak,

This is the result of another stage of the election campaign in which district election commissions considered granting ballot access to nominees. A total of 692 people announced their intention to get on the ballot, but only slightly more than half of them were granted the coveted candidate status. However, 150 persons appealed registration denials to the central election commission, so registered candidates will slightly increase in number.

The considerable reduction of the nominee-seat ratio means that many seats in the lower chamber will be filled following the first round scheduled for October 17. Shortly before the beginning of the parliamentary campaign, the Belarusian leader suggested that the elections should be held within a short period.

According to the central election commission, most contenders were denied registration for misstating their income and property and filing inauthentic ballot access signatures, i.e. on purely bureaucratic grounds.

Opposition groups, who admit having overlooked legal requirements in many cases, insist most of their parliamentary aspirants were weeded out for political reasons.

Nonetheless, opposition nominees were not "filtered off" on a large scale. About 50 percent became candidates, which is the general ratio for all of those who aimed for the ballot.

The opposition are not dramatizing the situation hoping to see some of their members in the Oval Hall.

However, it is not the elections but the constitutional referendum that will top the opposition's agenda as their candidates join the chorus against a third term for Aleksandr Lukashenko in their campaign speeches.