Belarus’ local councils confirm members of Council of the Republic
Upper house chairwoman Natalla Kačanava (center) at the Kamvol textile company.
April 4, Pozirk. Belarus’ local councils have confirmed 56 members of the Council of the Republic, the press office of the upper house of parliament reported.
The Council of the Republic is to comprise 64 members with a five-year mandate. Eight have yet to be appointed by the head of state.
The newly confirmed members include Iryna Abielskaja, widely believed to be the mother of Alaksandar Łukašenka’s youngest son Mikałaj, Biełarusbank board chairman Viktar Ananič and Dźmitryj Baskaŭ, the Belarusian leader’s ice hockey coach who had been accused by the opposition of complicity in the 2020 uninvestigated murder of activist Raman Bandarenka.
All 56 confirmed members can be found here in Russian.
The central election commission will announce the schedule of the upper house’s first session on April 9.
This year’s National Assembly election campaign was marred by repression and the exclusion of any opposition from the political process.
Independent monitoring group records violations during elections
February 27, Pozirk. The February 20-25 parliamentary and local elections in Belarus did not meet international standards for democratic and free elections, says a preliminary report by Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections. The independent monitoring group set up by …