Schools, libraries, and cultural centers will become meeting places for candidates with the electorate in the Vitebsk region

March 24, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Assembly halls of schools, reading rooms of libraries and halls of palaces of culture will most often be meeting places for candidates for deputies and pre-election meetings organized for voters in the Vitebsk region, BELTA correspondent reports. In accordance with the Electoral Code of Belarus for free and comprehensive discussion of election programs of candidates for deputies of local councils, for campaigning for or against a candidate at meetings and rallies, as well as for meetings with voters, by agreement with the election commissions, executive committees have adopted and informed citizens of decisions on determining places for placing pre-election campaign printed materials and holding meetings with voters. Most often, pre-election meetings will be held in schools and libraries. But in some constituencies, other places have been designated. For example, in Novopolotsk, for electoral district No. 24, the assembly hall of the hotel complex will become such a place, and residents of the Prigorodny electoral district No. 6 in Orsha can meet in the foyer of the local DOSAAF driving school. Decisions of local authorities also define places for organizing and holding mass events (street meetings, rallies, pickets) in a notification procedure by candidates for deputies and their proxies. In Polotsk and Novopolotsk, as a rule, these are areas in front of the entrances to buildings where polling stations are located, and areas in the courtyards of multi-story buildings. In Orsha, mass pre-election events will most often take place in areas in front of shops and shopping centers, as well as in a public garden, park, and on Lenin Square. Pre-election printed campaign materials will mainly be placed on bulletin boards, information stands of enterprises and organizations, billboards and pedestals, and on the entrance doors of apartment building entrances. In the Vitebsk region, according to the department of organizational and personnel work of the regional executive committee, 3820 people have been nominated as candidates for deputies of local councils of all levels. The average competition for a deputy mandate of a city council in cities of regional subordination is 1.88, for a district council - 1.45. The largest number of applicants - 1.9 per seat - is in the regional Council. More than half of the applicants (59%) were nominated by collecting signatures, 43.7% by labor collectives, and 2% by political parties. The Communist Party of Belarus is represented by 29 people, the Belarusian Left Party "A Just World" - by 27, the BNF - by 10, the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada) - by 6, and the United Civic Party - by 3 people. Other parties did not nominate their candidates in the Vitebsk region. Applicants who have passed registration are entitled to begin pre-election campaigning. The deadline for registration is March 25. Pre-election campaigning will begin on the day of candidate registration and will last until April 24 inclusive. In the Vitebsk region, 60 district commissions for the election of regional council deputies and 240 territorial commissions for the election of deputies of district, city, rural and settlement councils are operating. The deputy corps of the 26th convocation will be formed with 3530 people, including 60 deputies of the regional council. Elections to local Councils of Deputies are scheduled for April 25, 2010. -0-