Opposition Parliamentary Contender Misses Registration Application Deadline over Detention

Alyaksey Aleksandrovich, a member of the organizing committee for the unregistered Belarusian Christian Democracy (BCD) party, missed the August 18 deadline for filing his ballot access application after being detained by police.

The opposition activist planned to run for the House of Representatives in the Lepel district, Vitsyebsk region, in September’s elections, according to the BCD press office.

However, as he was meeting with his campaign aides to collect all papers needed for registration at 3 p.m. on Monday, a police officer approached the activist and ordered him to produce his passport. Although Mr. Aleksandrovich obeyed, he was still brought to a police office and was not allowed to go until after the office of the district election commission closed.

He was interviewed by several police officers and did not face any charges. “The police were obviously playing for time to [keep me at the office] till the expiry of the deadline for filing registration documents,” Mr. Aleksandrovich said.