The Belarusian Central Election Commission has registered five candidates for the presidency of Belarus: incumbent President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Chairman of the Republican Party of Labor and Justice Aleksandr Khizhnyak, Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus Oleg Gaidukevich, individual entrepreneur Anna Kanopatskaya, and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus Sergei Syrankov, BelTA has learned.
The pre-election campaigning will start on 1 January. The CEC also handed over the certificates to the candidates to the presidency of Belarus on 23 December.
According to Oleg Gaidukevich, Belarus completed the signature collection stage. "I want to thank my team, because actually they did a great job. We collected over 100,000 signatures," he said. "The campaign is running in a calm manner. People are preparing for the New Year celebrations. Isn't that how elections should be held? All the candidates are different, have different programs. But what unites us is our love for the country and our desire to make it stronger."
"Pre-election campaigning is forbidden now," Anna Kanopatskaya emphasized. “You can only share your biography, ask about the matters of concern to our citizens. You can meet with your team, write speeches, prepare for debates. We have overcome a difficult stage of the election campaign. Hopefully, we will pass all the remaining stages in compliance with the law and fair play."
"A quite important stage is over," Sergei Syrankov added. The stage, which was designed to bring the party together, test its readiness, shake up all party structures from the primary organizations to the central committee. For the first time in the history of sovereign Belarus, a candidate of the Communist Party was registered as a candidate to the presidency of Belarus."
The presidential election in Belarus is scheduled for 26 January 2025.
