Police colonel appointed deputy head of central election commission
April 24, Pozirk. Senior police official Alaksiej Bašan has been selected as deputy chairman of Belarus’ central election commission days after Alaksandar Łukašenka approved him as a member, the commission’s press office reports.
Since 2014, Bašan has served as first deputy head of Police Academy. He holds the rank of a police colonel and a graduate degree in law.
The central election commission operates permanently with a five-year mandate. Its 12 members were appointed in December 2021.
The presidiums of regional and Minsk city elected councils and executive committees jointly recommend candidates to Łukašenka for approval.
The Belarusian ruler has controlled the central election commission since 1996, and is suspected of rigging every election and referendum since then.
Viktar Hančar, a politician who attempted to defend the commission’s independence in 1996, was reportedly murdered by a government-run death squad in 1999.
Also read: Lukašenka appoints Ihar Karpenka head of the Central Elections Committee
KGB officer takes over as director general of Belarus’ MTS mobile operator
April 17, Pozirk. Stakeholders at a general meeting have approved Uładzimir Kozyr, a former Committee for State Security (KGB) officer, as director general of the MTS mobile operator. Kozyr has served as chief of the KGB Minsk and Minsk Region Department …