Parliamentary election attracts fewer candidates than in 2019

February 1, Pozirk. A total of 265 candidates have been registered to run in contests for 110 seats in the National Assembly’s House of Representatives, Ihar Karpienka, the head of the central election commission, has told the state-run media.

The commission has disqualified at least 33 bidders; it reported that 298 applications had been submitted by January 16.  

Competition has declined from the previous elections, with 2.4 people per seat running compared with 5.07 in 2019 and 4.74 in 2016.

The registered candidates include 92 women and 10 people under 31 with the youngest being 23, Karpienka noted.

A total of 18,802 candidates have been registered for local elections to fill 12,512 seats in local soviets (elected councils), with competition at 1.5 candidates per seat.

Elections for the National Assembly’s lower house and local councils are scheduled for February 25. The campaign has been marred by mass-scale politically-motivated persecution of dissenters and a crackdown on opposition in Belarus.

Not a single opposition candidate has been registered so far.

Law enforcers and propaganda workers feature prominently among potential MPs, including Hienadź Lapieška and Viačasłaŭ Danilovič who head the military and management academies, respectively; Ihar Paskoŭ of the interior ministry; Anžalika Kurčak, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General’s Office; Alaksandar Barsukoŭ, a former deputy interior minister; Andrej Łys, of the Investigative Committee; Mikałaj Maratajeŭ, of the Homiel Regional Court; and General Ihar Siarhejenka, a former senior Committee for State Security (KGB) officer serving as head of Alaksandar Łukašenka’s administration.

Propagandists Vadzim Hihin, head of the National Library, and Alaksandar Špakoŭski recently appointed to the Belarusian embassy in Russia are also running. The list includes Dźmitryj Šaŭcoŭ, secretary general of the Belarusian Red Cross suspected of involvement in illegal transfers of Ukrainian children.