Belarusian CEC stops accepting applications for registering groups to nominate presidential candidates

MINSK. Nov 2 (Interfax) - The deadline for submitting applications for registering groups to nominate presidential candidates expired in Belarus on November 1.

All aspirants for presidency were due to submit documents for registering their campaigns to the Belarusian Central Elections Commission by November 1.

At the end of the designated period, the Belarusian CEC registered groups of incumbent Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Republican Party of Labor and Justice leader Alexander Khizhnyak, Liberal Democratic Party leader, member of the parliament lower chamber Oleg Gaidukevich, and head of the Minsk Executive City Committee's Department for Ideological Work and Youth Affairs Olga Chemodanova.

Applications for registering groups of Viktor Kulesh, Diana Kovalyova, Belarusian Communist Party leader Sergei Syrankov, head of the Belarusian Union of Officers Sergei Bobrikov, and Anna Kanopatskaya, who ran for president in 2020, have also been submitted to the CEC and will be processed at a CEC meeting on November 4.

Signatures supporting the nomination of candidates will be collected in Belarus from November 7 to December 6. Each registered group must gather at least 100,000 signatures of voters. Presidential candidates will be registered on December 22-31.

The Belarusian presidential election will take place on January 26, 2025.