Lidia Yermoshina said: “We believe that by the time [19 June] the decree to schedule elections to the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly will be signed. Therefore, we will just have to immediately pass documents that will regulate key organizational matters for holding the parliamentary elections”.
In his words, there are 15 items on the agenda of the CEC session. In particular, there are plans to adopt a description of election districts for electing members of the House of Representatives, methodological guidelines for arranging elections, two schedules for electing the two chambers of the parliament.
“I’d say it will be a fundamental session of the Central Election Commission,” said Lidia Yermoshina.
Asked whether the 19 June session will discuss the request to register an initiative group to use the right of law initiation and the draft law “Amendments and addenda to several laws of the Republic of Belarus on holding elections and referendums”, Lidia Yermoshina said the matter was not ready for the Commission to discuss it. “Apart from an examination carried out by the Central Election Commission we’ve sent the bill submitted by the group of citizens to the Justice Ministry for a conclusion. The Justice Ministry was given a month to work out its conclusion. The month expires on 28 June. The Justice Ministry has not sent the document to the CEC yet,” explained Lidia Yermoshina.
The press service of the Belarusian head of state said earlier that President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko will choose the date for holding the parliamentary elections by 18 June. The timeline and preparations for an election campaign were discussed at a working meeting of President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Lidia Yermoshina on 8 June.
The head of state was informed about possible election campaign dates and the date to schedule the elections. Lidia Yermoshina remarked that the law requires holding elections to the lower chamber of the parliament on 23 September at the latest while elections to the upper chamber have to be held by 30 September. While elections to the lower chamber will be held on the same day nationwide, members of the Council of the Republic are elected by deputies in local councils in the regions and therefore elections to the upper chamber can be held on different days.
