MINSK, 16 October (BelTA) - More young people are seeking seats in the House of Representatives in Belarus. Plans are in place to set up a youth group in the Parliament to work on the bills in close cooperation with experienced MPs, the head of the Central Control Commission at the BRSM Youth Union Yekaterina Petrashkevich told the media, BelTA has learned.
According to the Central Election Commission, the number of young people under 30 among the candidates to the House of Representatives has increased. How many of them remain in the election race will be known after 17 October when the registration of candidates is over.
Yekaterina Petrashkevich said that about 10 members of the Belarusian BRSM Youth Union are running to the parliament. Some have collected signatures, others have been nominated by a labor collective or a political party. The BRSM Youth Union is planning to set up a youth group in Parliament, whose members will be directly involved in lawmaking activities and will also work with experienced MPs on strategic issues. “We want to create a feedback with young people as certain laws are drafted,” Yekaterina Petrashkevich said.
On 16 October, the Belarusian BRSM Youth Union held a training seminar "Belarus and I" in Minsk bringing together more than 250 representatives of the youth organization: heads of the BRSM election campaigns, members of district commissions, accredited observers, young members of the local councils of deputies from all regions of the country, BRSM candidates to the Belarusian parliament. Similar seminars will be held in the regions in the future. Yekaterina Petrashkevich stressed that the main objective of the project is to increase the electoral activity of young people.
She pointed out that the BRSM is looking for new forms of work in this direction. Thus, the seminar launched the mobile application "I Vote!” which allows voters to find their constituency, a polling station at home address, get information about candidates. A thematic computer game was also presented. All these are the developments of members of the BRSM Minsk city organization.
The central event was the open dialogue "Belarus and I" which was attended by Head of the CEC Lidia Yermoshina. There was also, a training marathon with interactive business games.
The BRSM is traditionally actively involved in electoral processes. The current parliamentary campaign is no exception. The district election commissions include 93 representatives of the BRSM Youth Union. Six representatives of the union are on territorial commissions, and 3,800 are among members of the precinct election commissions. The BRSM Youth Union has sent 415 observers to territorial, district and precinct commissions. One BRSM observer has been accredited by the CEC.
Besides, BRSM volunteers will help people with disabilities, elderly people, mothers with prams on the voting days.
