Government website in Homieĺ supports future presidential candidate?
The website of the administration of Homieĺ’s Čyhunačny district has posted, in addition to the official information of the start of the campaign and the creation of the district election commission, an announcement about the public reception service of the NGO “Belaya Rus”. There is also a "schedule of duties of members of the initiative group of citizens for the nomination of the candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus”. The candidate’s name is not specified, although on the eve of the presidential campaign Belaya Rus openly expressed support for the incumbent President Aliaksandr Lukashenka.
Uladzimir Labkovich, on behalf of the campaign "Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections", asked the Central Election Commission to explain whether such a publication on the government website corresponds to the Electoral Code of the Republic of Belarus, as its Part 13, Article 61 prohibits government officials to take part in collecting signatures, as well as if such an advertisement complied with the principle of equality of all participants of the elections, which is guaranteed by the Code.
20 minutes after the complaint was submitted to the CEC, all the information concerning this situation disappeared from the website of the executive committee.
