October 31, Pozirk. The central election commission has received two more applications to register ballot-access signature collection groups in the run-up to the January 21-26 presidential election.
Hanna Kanapackaja, a lawyer and businesswoman, was a member of the United Civic Party from 1995 to 2019 and an MP from 2016 to 2019. She was a fringe candidate in the 2020 presidential race, winning 1.7 percent of votes, according to the official data.
Shortly before the main voting day four years ago, Kanapackaja lashed out at Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja, who built enormous momentum in the race, accusing her of obstructing her pro-EU campaign.
The other new applicant is Maj. Gen. Siarhiej Bobrykaŭ, ex-head of Military Academy.
So far, the CEC registered Alaksandar Łukašenka’s signature collection group, rejecting the applications from Alaksandr Drazdoŭ and Juraś Hubarevič, an exiled opposition politician.
Yesterday, it received applications from Aleh Hajdukievič and Alaksandar Chižniak, leaders of pro-government parties as well as Volha Čamadanava, ideology head at the Minsk City Executive Committee.
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. The opposition accuses the Łukašenka government, which fully controls the central election commission, of inventing election results.
