October 30, Pozirk. Volha Čamadanava, ideology head at the Minsk City Executive Committee, has submitted her application to collect ballot-access signatures, the central election commission reported.
Čamadanava, known as a staunch Alaksandar Łukašenka supporter and interior ministry’s spokeswoman from 2018 to 2021, chairs the Minsk city branch of the pro-government Belarusian Union of Women.
During her tenure at the interior ministry, Čamadanava supported the political crackdown on regime critics in 2020 and promoted so-called confession videos where arrested protesters were forced to admit to committing offenses and criticizing the government.
Earlier today, the central election commission also received applications from Aleh Hajdukievič and Alaksandar Chižniak, leaders of pro-government parties.
Yesterday, it registered the initiative group that will collect ballot-access signatures for Łukašenka, rejecting the applications from Alaksandr Drazdoŭ and Juraś Hubarevič, an exiled opposition politician.
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.
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.
