![]() | ||
| ||
2010 26th convocation local councils of Republic of Belarus elections were held on 25 April.
Elections to rural, as well as district, urban and regional Councils of deputies were held in a single day 25 April under plurality vote.
Under legislation any citizen of age 18 and older, living or working on the territory of municipal unit or connected with it is entitled to participate in municipal elections as a candidate. [1]
According to preliminary information, 25 033 candidates are to participate in municipal elections, [2] at least 513 of whom are candidates nominated by parties. [3] In total, under some estimations, 700–800 candidates are to represent registered and unregistered opposition parties and movements. [4] At the same time, United Civic Party of Belarus in its summit on 21 March decided not to participate in the elections. [5] On 2 April representatives of "For free entrepreneurship development" movement gave up participation in the elections, [6] however candidates from "Entrepreneurs bloc" continued their participation in the elections, [7] as well as many young candidates, participating in the elections for the first time. [8] However, there was no mass boycott of the elections and even UCP candidates participated in the elections till the end, with only a few of them withdrawing their nominations [9] or were removed for electoral agitation rules violations. [10]
Average competition rate in Minsk City Council of Deputies was 3.9 candidates per seat, [11] while in regional councils – 1.8 candidates per seat. [12] On average there were 1.2 candidates per deputy seat. [2] Only 12 out of 40 electoral districts were alternative in Vitebsk City Council elections, [13] in Gomel Regional Council — 36 out of 60, [14] only in case of Minsk-city Council candidates nominated and participated, and there was no non-alternative district in Minsk. [15]
Only 0.1% of polling site commissions staff was formed of opposition representatives. [3]
On 20 April preliminary voting started; as of 23 April 15% of total number of voters had voted. [16] [17] Total turnover of the preliminary elections was 29,3 %. [18] At the same time, high numbers of preliminary voters provided by Central Electoral Committee are under doubt. [17] There are also many evidences of university students being forced to vote preliminary. [19] [20]
However, according to CEC representatives high turnover on preliminary elections is observed and explained due to «not only informational work, but also organizational stimulation for citizens, wishing to vote preliminary in the cities», also they stated such reasons as high discipline of Belarusians and elderly people's desire to «realize their right to vote in a fine weather». [21]
According to poll, conducted by Information and Analytics Center of President Administration of Republic of Belarus,
…for most of citizens the most appropriate is deputy candidate to Local Council aged 30–49, willing to help his region, working as manager or specialist of an enterprise or organization, representative of state authority and supporting current government [2]
Region | Voted | % |
---|---|---|
Brest Region | 801 842 | 78,7 % |
Vitebsk Region | 813 530 | 90,9 % |
Gomel Region | 937 219 | 84,4 % |
Grodno Region | 649 405 | 80,6 % |
Mogilev Region | 719 960 | 85,7 % |
Minsk Region | 903 346 | 81,7 % |
Minsk | 735 116 | 58,7 % |
Out of 79 candidates of Belarusian Left Party "A Just World" 5 became local councils deputies, informed Valeriy Ukhnalev, deputy head of the party. (see source http://nashaniva.by/?c=ar&i=37802)
Narodnaja Volya is an independent opposition newspaper founded by Iosif Seredich.
Belarus elects on national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The National Assembly has two chambers. The House of Representatives has 110 members elected in single-seat constituencies elected for a four-year term. The Council of the Republic has 64 members, 56 members indirectly elected and eight members appointed by the president.
European Radio for Belarus is an international radio station that provides independent news, information, and entertainment to the citizens of Belarus launched on February 26, 2006. ERB operates on FM, OIRT FM, Internet, and Satellite to reach the widest audience. Its staff includes around 20 people in the Warsaw office and ten journalists in the Minsk office.
The Party of Freedom and Progress is a liberal political party in Belarus. Since 2003, it has continuously failed to reach the minimum threshold to get an official registration by the electoral commission.
Censorship in Belarus, although prohibited by the country's constitution, is enforced by a number of laws. These include a law that makes insulting the president punishable by up to five years in prison, and another that makes criticizing Belarus abroad punishable by up to two years in prison.
Belarusian Liberal Youth Organization "Civil Forum" is the only Belarusian liberal youth organization and the only democratic youth organization with the legal status on national level. Civil Forum acts in order to bring closer the day when elections in Belarus are free from frauds, when liberal rights and freedoms of individuals are not repressed by the government, when citizens are free to speak and act without fear of being imprisoned by political and ideological reasons, when Belarus is the sustainable, responsible and peaceable partner in the Eastern-European region.
The 2011 Minsk Metro bombing took place on 11 April 2011 when 15 people were killed and 204 were injured when a bomb exploded within the Minsk Metro, Belarus. The explosion happened at the central Kastryčnickaja station at 17:55 local time.
Tell the Truth! is a campaign in Belarus, which was started on 25 February 2010 by educational and research institution "Movement Forward" and is supported by some social public figures.
The Moscow mayoral election of 2013 was held on September 8, 2013, as part of the regional elections, at the same time as the elections in Moscow Oblast and other Oblasts were held.
Presidential elections were held in Belarus on 11 October 2015. Long-term president Alexander Lukashenko ran for his fifth term in office, having won every presidential election since independence in 1991. He was re-elected with 84% of the vote, according to official figures. The 'against all' option received more votes than any opposition candidate.
Parliamentary elections were held in Belarus on 11 September 2016.
Valery Tsepkalo or Valery Tsapkala is a Belarusian politician, diplomat, executive, and entrepreneur. He holds a Candidate's degree in International Law.
Parliamentary elections were held in Belarus on 17 November 2019.
Presidential elections were held in Belarus on Sunday, 9 August 2020. Early voting began on 4 August and ran until 8 August.
The 2020–2021 Belarusian protests were a series of mass political demonstrations and protests against the Belarusian government and President Alexander Lukashenko. The largest anti-government protests in the history of Belarus, the demonstrations began in the lead-up to and during the 2020 presidential election, in which Lukashenko sought his sixth term in office. In response to the demonstrations, a number of relatively small pro-government rallies were held.
Hanna Anatolyeuna Kanapatskaya or Anna Anatolyevna Kanopatskaya is a Belarusian politician, former MP, lawyer, entrepreneur and candidate in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election. She is also a former parliamentary deputy, represented the United Civic Party of Belarus from 1995 to 2019 and served as an MP from 2016 to 2019. She is known for her political campaign on calling Belarus to be freed from Russian interference.
27th convocation local councils of Republic of Belarus elections were held on 23 March 2014. 1328 Local Deputy Councils were filled with 18,816 representatives. Moreover, at the same time elections of single deputy to House of Representatives of National Assembly were held in Gomel-Navabielicki 36 electoral district where government-favoured candidate was removed from elections just before 2012 parliamentary election, and the only candidate left did not receive enough support.
The 2022 Belarusian constitutional referendum was held in Belarus on 27 February 2022.
28th Convocation Republic of Belarus deputies to Local Councils of Deputies elections are elections to Belarus Local Councils to Deputies elections conducted on 18 February 2018. Electoral campaign started in November 2017. Citizens of the respective administrative subdivision elect the council for a term of four years under procedure set within the Electoral Code of Republic of Belarus.
Elections to the Council of Deputies of the city of Severodvinsk of the VI convocation were held on September 10, 2017, in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelskaya oblast.