Lists of district election commissions in Homieĺ prepared by unknown ‘working group’
On July 21, a joint meeting of the Homieĺ City Executive Committee and the City Council of Deputies formed local district election commissions (one for each of the four administrative districts of the city). An average of 20 candidates were nominated to each commission. According to local human rights activist Leanid Sudalenka, the procedure looked rather democratic - a representative of the executive committee read out the names of candidates, telling about their professional qualities, including experience of work in election commissions.
However, it became clear that the creation of the district commissions was prepared in advance by a ‘working group’, which drafted preliminary lists of candidates that were proposed for membership. The list was put on a vote. As a result, four election commissions were formed.
“The names and organizations that nominated their representatives to the commissions were read out very quickly, I did not manage to hear all of them, and was not allowed to use a recorder. So after the meeting, I asked a representative of the executive committee to give me the lists of commissioners, to which she roughly said, "I will not give you anything," said Leanid Sudalenka.
The Fair World Party nominated several candidates, but violated the procedure of nomination: the party proposed members of its city branch, while Fair World has no district offices. It was viewed as a violation, and their nominations were not considered. The rest of the opposition parties did not nominate their representatives to local district election commissions.
"Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections"