Candidate’s mandate revoked 4 hours after registration

Yaraslau Bernikovich, activist of the "Tell the Truth" campaign running for the Hlybokaye District Council, received yesterday a certificate of registration from the district election commission. However, at about 3 p.m. the same day an election official phoned him to report that his registration would be canceled.

“The reason was a surprise to me: it turns out that signatures for my nomination were collected in the wrong village. The commission says there are two villages with the same name, Hirstuny. One is in Karabouski village council, a couple of kilometers outside Hlybokaye, where I live. But the commission says it’s the wrong Hirstuny, and that I should have collected signatures in the Hirstuny of Uzdzelauski village council. I did not even know that there was such a village, as it does not exist anymore, there are no inhabitants there!” says the activist.

Yaraslau Bernikovich refers to a local government-run newspaper "Vesnik Hlybochchyny", which published a list of constituencies and villages they include. There is a village called Hirstuny in Viarkhnianskaya constituency No. 22, but without specifying to which village council it belongs.

"It is a mistake by those who prepare elections, who determines the boundaries of constituencies. If there are two villages with the same name, it is necessary to specify exactly which one is meant!” says the outraged activist.

Yaraslau Bernikovich was also going to run for the Vitsebsk Regional Council. However, he was not registered as a candidate, either, as one of his signature sheets lacked the word “Hlybokaye”, and the entire sheet was "rejected".

"Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections"