Authorities have tightened approach to the formation of precinct election commissions

So far, the approach to organising the 2019 parliamentary elections appears to aim at excluding the opposition from the electoral process.

On October 4^th, 2019, precinct election commissions (PECs) were formed. As in the case of the district and territorial commissions (higher level), the share of screened out PEC nominees from the opposition has increased as compared with the previous campaign. Only 21 opposition representatives (0.033% of the total members) have been included in PECs (53 or 0.08% in 2016).

As reported by “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”, the formation of PECs has revealed a discrimination in relation to opposition representatives: out of 495 nominated, only 21 representatives have become PEC members (4.2% of those nominated); pro-government parties nominated 3884 persons and 3763 have become PEC members (96.9% of those nominated); five major quangos – the Belarusian Republican Youth Union, Belaya Rus, the Union of Women, the Union of Veterans, the Belarusian Peace Fund and the Federation of Trade Unions – nominated 28980 and 27790 have become PEC members (95.9% of those nominated).

The share of quango and pro-government political parties’ representatives in PECs has increased as compared with 2016. In 2016, their total number was 28,904 representatives of 65,856 in total; in 2019 – 31553 of 63646 or half of PEC members.