MINSK, 26 August (BelTA) – Candidates to the Belarusian parliament enjoy equal rights during the pre-election campaign in the country, Yevgeny Sloboda, chief of the headquarters of the CIS observation mission at the elections to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, told BelTA.
The CIS mission has noted that the pre-election period proceeds in line with the legislation. “Equal conditions have been created for the candidates during the pre-election campaigning. They have been provided with the right to make statements to the media,” Yevgeny Sloboda stressed.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) has set up a supervisory council to monitor the order and rules of conducting the election campaign in the mass media. “Our observers attend meetings of the council. The fact proving that the election campaign is calm, transparent and held within the legislation is that the council has considered only one appeal related to the pre-election campaigning over the time. Currently there are over 500 candidates for the seats in the new parliament of Belarus,” said the chief of the headquarters of the CIS observation mission.
According to Yevgeny Sloboda, candidates have the right to publish their programs free of charge in one of the national newspapers. Measures are taken to prevent the repeat publication of the program. Candidates also have the right for making televised and radio speeches. Apart from that, airtime is allocated on for holding debates. “We note that candidates have been actively using the airtime for their pre-election campaigning. The mission has also been observing cases when candidates refuse from making statements on the television and radio, taking part in the TV debates,” Yevgeny Sloboda said.
The local authorities and district election commissions have coordinated venues for campaign events. Stands with campaign materials have been installed in the capital and other parts of the country. The CIS mission notes that candidates are not very active in using such stands. Experts, however, expect that the pre-election campaigning will intensify closer to election day.
Yevgeny Sloboda added that in general the election campaign in Belarus proceeds in a calm and organized environment, in full compliance with the CEC calendar.
