By Veronika Buta: Among the 23,000 nominees in the local elections, about half are representatives of the Belaya Rus association. The next stage of local elections starts in Belarus today. Not all applicants for the deputy mandate have reached this stage. More than 11% of nominees received no candidate certificates. The biggest competition is observed in the Minsk City Council. One candidate in four will be successful. The final number of registered candidates will be known in a few days.
Almost a third of applicants for the mandate in Minsk are women. Most of the candidates are working people, although several retirees are competing as well. The number of young people has increased almost twice in the current campaign.
Many of the candidates have already started election campaigning.
Starting on Monday, candidates for deputies will be able to speak on local radio. This is a free minimum of 3 minutes. Electoral programs can be printed on the pages of local newspapers.
The main voting day is February 18. Early voting will start on February 13. From this day on, foreign diplomats will be able to participate in the monitoring of local elections. The law, however, does not provide for mandatory invitation of foreign observers to local elections, but they have already begun to declare their desire to participate in the monitoring of the election campaign.
