MINSK, 19 August (BelTA) – Some candidates running for seats in the Belarusian parliament have withdrawn from the election race. The information was provided by the Belarus One TV channel, BelTA informs.
“A part of candidates to the parliament have chosen to withdraw from the election race. At present, there are 509 people standing as candidates to the House of Representatives,” the TV channel said. A total of 522 candidates were registered for the parliamentary elections in Belarus.
Speaking about the pre-election campaigning, Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus Lidia Yermoshina noted that a part of candidates are rather passive, while “others' activity sometimes almost violating the law”. In her words, some candidates try to use the pre-election campaigning period for other purposes, for instance, to achieve the political goals of their party, which is inadmissible. “The candidate should use the preferences provided during the election campaign to address the voter, first of all as a candidate to the parliament, and not as a political figure who tries to resolve issues that are not related to his constituency, but to the country as a whole, its foreign policy and so on. Such steps are unallowable and will be stopped,” the CEC head stressed.
Lidia Yermoshina added that the election campaign is proceeding without any serious conflicts and is still gathering pace.
The elections to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus will take place on 11 September.
