November 1, Pozirk. The central election commission (CEC) has received an application submitted by PhD Viktar Kuleš to register his ballot-access signature collection group in the run-up to the January 21-26 presidential election, its press office reported.
The Belarusian State University lecturer is not a public person and has not been active politically. He applied for group registration on the last day.
So far, the CEC has registered groups that will collect signatures for Alaksandar Łukašenka, Volha Čamadanava, ideology head at the Minsk City Executive Committee as well as Aleh Hajdukievič and Alaksandar Chižniak, leaders of pro-government parties.
In three days, the CEC will decide on the remaining applications, including by retired general Siarhiej Bobrykaŭ, communist leader Siarhiej Syrankoŭ, businesswoman Dzijana Kavalova and 2020 presidential hopeful Hanna Kanapackaja.
The ballot-access signature collection is scheduled to start on November 7.
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 previous 2020 presidential race was marred by fraud and police brutality against peaceful protesters.
