Homieĺ regional election commission consists of officials and chiefs representing ‘the public’
The government-owned news agency BelTA reported today that the majority of the members of the Homieĺ Regional Election Commission are members of the public. Indeed, if we look at the list of the commission members, we can see representatives of public organizations such as the Women's Union, journalists, veterans and trade union organizations. However, a deeper analysis reveals that the commission consists mainly of loyal people: government officials and heads of state-owned enterprises of different levels. At the same time, eight of the thirteen members were on the Regional Election Commission in the elections to local councils in 2014, some worked in the presidential election in 2010.
Pavel Zhdanovich, director of the Regional Museum of Military Glory, became member of the regional commission as a representative of the public, the Belaya Rus NGO. Another member of the public is the first secretary of the Regional Committee of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union Ihar Zavalei. Director of the Medical College Halina Salanets was elected to the Commission as a representative of the Belarusian Union of Women. Citizens reportedly nominated deputy head of the organizational and personnel work of the regional executive committee Tamara Lukyanenka, head physician of the hospital of war veterans Aleh Ivantsou and deputy head of the executive committee’s justice department Ala Susarenka. Former government officials Mikhail Zhukevich, Uladzimir Charnashtan and Mikalai Charnysh will work in the commission as representatives of respectively the veterans’ organization, the Communist Party and a labor collective.