Being commission member is a lifetime office?

The Movement for Freedom (the MFF) Minsk province coordinator Siarhiei Salash – who was present at the session of the Minsk Province Executive Committee and the Province Council on Forming the Province Election Commission – told about the principles of creating the Election Commission.

“The decision on inclusion of a person in the Election Commission was taken by voting of the representatives of the Province Executive Committee and the Province Council who were present at the session. The officials think the possession of previous experience in the work of the Election Commission is one of the essential reasons for positive decision. Aleh Matskievich, our contender for the membership in the Election Commission who is the Barysau News newspaper lawyer and the representative of the Red Cross was refused to become the member of the Election Commission for this reason. Naturally, with this approach we cannot hope the Election Commissions’ composition will ever be renewed”, Salash says.

Under the new amendments to the Election Law, one third of commissions should be composed of the representatives of political parties and civil organizations. However, the authorities can easily fill this quota with the representatives of the supposedly non-governmental organizations which are, in fact, totally pro-governmental, such as the Bielaya Rus, the Communist Party of Belarus, the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus, veterans’ organizations, etc.

“Pro-governmental organizations and their divisions formally have ten and even hundred times more members in country regions than democratic parties and structures. On this basis, the officials make decisions to form the commissions of the members of the Belarusian Republican Youth Association (the BRYA) and the Bielaya Rus which allegedly represent wider circles of the electorate”, Salash points out.

Forming the Minsk Province Election Commission was done quickly and efficiently. The session lasted 14 minutes. All appointments were made unanimously. As the result, the Province Election Commission was formed of the representatives of the BNYA, the Bielaya Rus, the Belarusian Women Association, the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus, and the Veterans of Afghan War Organization. The officials and the province deputies didn’t support any representative of the United Civil Party, the Just World organization or the MFF which were delegated by way of signatures collection.

Salash thinks the Commission formation process shows the local elections will be non-transparent and closed. He thinks democratic contenders should not hope too much to receive deputy mandates but should concentrate more on preparing to the presidential elections.

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