Elections of members of Local Councils of the Republic of Belarus of the twenty-eighth convocation (original) (raw)

Revisiting Electoral Tactics in Belarus: Local Elections 2018

Baltic Worlds, 2018

Lukashenka is not going to undermine or change electoral strategies that have worked well for sustaining the regime. But the regime will be employing other non-electoral strategies to hold on to its power. The established political system maintains a number of preemptive mechanisms that prevent public mobilization and collective action. The spontaneous use of selective justice and disproportional measures, including a 72-hour detention of journalists, signaled to the general public that the Belarusian leadership still holds power to change rules and to tilt the level playing field for other political actors.

Belarus Parliamentary Elections 2016: Something Old Something New

2016

On September 11 Belarus held parliamentary elections for the sixth time since 1991. Few had doubts about election results announced the next day: as usual deputies loyal to President Aliaksandr Lukashenka gained most seats in the lower house. Yet the 2016 election was different from all other recent elections. Hanna Kanapatskaya of the United Civil Party (UPC) and Alena Anisim, a member of the Belarusian Language Society, both women and both seen as representing the 'opposition' won seats in the parliament. This news, although much anticipated, has been followed by a feisty discussion -not seldom of conspiratorial character -especially among oppositional actors. Why were these women (s)elected for seats in the parliament? Will their presence actually change something? Most seem to agree the results were orchestrated by Belarusian authorities to appease the West and show some goodwill. Indeed, lifting sanctions against Belarus last year marked a sea change in EU approach to Lukashenka who has come to play 'the lesser evil' ever since the Ukraine war erupted. 1 This hints to the fact no matter how uninteresting the results of this type of predetermined elections are they still can tell us something. While focusing on who won and who lost does not bring much new to the table questions like what function does a pre-determined election have and what do the election results mean for democratic opposition can help us better understand the mechanisms behind so called electoral authoritarianism in general and the situation in Belarus in particular. Pre-determined election: everybody knows who will win (and most do not care) Merely in a superficial way, Belarus election does not appear outrageous to the eye of populace. Parliamentary elections are held every four years.

THE NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES FOR DEPUTIES AS A RITUAL ELEMENT OF SOVIET OSTENSIBLE DEMOCRACY

The study deals with features of the procedure of the nomination of candidates for workers' deputies during the election campaigns to the Supreme Soviets of the USSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and local governments in the Ukrainian SSR of the postwar period. Legislative, organizational, and propaganda aspects of the process of running for power are analyzed. The procedure did not comply with constitutional norms, as, contrary to the Constitution, only one non-alternative candidate was nominated from each constituency, using non-legal buttons of their selection. Pre-election meetings were defi ned as one of the fundamental steps of the electoral process and as a ritual element of Soviet ostensible democracy. Pre-election events were controlled by party bodies, which neutralized the democratic principles of forming a representative branch of government and made it impossible to create a truly popular representation. The author defi nes the criteria that the authorities used for forming the deputy corps of diff erent levels and describes the ideal version of the Soviet representative of the people. Describing offi cials' diffi culties in nominating candidates for deputies to local councils, the author gives statistics and reasons for the rejection of nominees at this level at the election meeting. Diffi culties in the organization and conduct of the nomination procedure in the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR due to the prevalence of anti-Soviet sentiment in the region and the activities of the nationalist underground were noted. It has been observed that every year citizens showed a more and more indiff erent attitude to the elections due to the formality and politicization of the election procedure. Moreover, the parliamentary representation formed under party control did not correlate with society's political and social stratifi cation.

" The Election Game: " Authoritarian Consolidation Processes in Belarus

Democratizatsiya: The Journal for Post-Soviet Democratization, 2017

Elections without content are characteristic of electoral authoritarianism. This article illustrates how the “election game” featuring “elections for the sake of elections” can contribute to the consolidation of an authoritarian regime. It analyzes how Belarusian authorities’ “menu of manipulation” shaped both the discourse and “practice” of “politics” in favor of the current system. Using selective repression – targeting mainly those openly wanting to change the status quo, while allowing some controlled openness for individuals, as long as they refrain from “doing politics” – discouraged political activism and contributed to a negative perception of the “opposition” as a noisy sub-group of the population. Such developments reinforced a perception of organized politics in general, and elections in particular, as abstract, unattractive and irrelevant to most.

The Parliamentary Elections in Belarus, September 2012

Electoral Studies

had been anticipated by the PRD during the election campaign and denied by Medina. The president's popularity, however, remained high one year after the election: according to a May 2013 poll for the media group Corripio, three out of four Dominicans were satisfied or very satisfied with Medina's election (Newlink Research, 2013).

Election Procedure in the Republic of Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik Annals 8 (2004)

The article traces the development of the electoral process in the Republic of Dubrovnik from the Middle Ages to the final reforms of the mid-eighteenth century. It analyses the procedure, from electoral preparations and nominations to balloting and election results, as well as the measures aimed at preventing electoral corruption. The Ragusan election system is compared to similar electoral patterns and models, proving that despite striking formal parallels, Ragusan electoral practice was essentially different from that of Venice.

Local Governance and Government Administration in Belarus

ICLD Country Brief on Local Governance and Government Administration, 2018

In the report the authors elaborates on possibilities and barriers for local democracy and municipal partnerships. The report gives insights into the local contexts, the capabilities of local governments, and fiscal and political decentralisation. The information and views expressed in these briefs are based on the current understanding of the situation before October 2018.