October 28, Pozirk. Opposition politician Juryj Hubarevič has announced on Facebook that he has submitted paperwork to the central election commission.
The exiled chairman of the outlawed Movement for Freedom wants to run president, but the commission is likely to use his residence abroad as a pretext to reject his application.
The Belarusian Constitution has a 20-year continuous residence requirement for presidential hopefuls, forbidding them to live abroad or have any other country’s IDs.
“I do not have any formal restrictions,” Hubarevič argued. “[Authorities] filed criminal charges against me, but none of them resulted in court rulings,” he noted.
“I think it’s quite possible to collect 100,000 ballot-access signatures among some 500,000 Belarusians who fled their country fearing politically-motivated persecution.”
Hubarevič is known as an associate of Pavieł Łatuška of the transition cabinet and coordinator of an education project training public officials for a democratic Belarus. Belarusian authorities branded the initiative an extremist group earlier this year and filed criminal charges against Hubarevič.
Belarus will hold its seventh presidential election from January 21 to 26, with the whole election cycle limited to just three months. The previous 2020 presidential race was marred by police brutality against peaceful protesters.
Alaksandar Łukašenka and Aleh Hajdukievič, a pro-government politician vocally campaigning for the incumbent, have already announced their participation.
The Belarusian pro-democracy forces called on supporters to protest the election “by voting against all those who steal our right to vote.” By voting “against all” the Belarusian public will demonstrate that it continues to oppose Łukašenka and demands free and fair elections, the opposition said in a statement.
The country has not held a single free and fair election since 1996 by the standards of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
