Sergei Alfer: Opposition representatives affiliated in the CEC do not coordinate their activities

Plenary powers of the Central Election Committee (CEC) members with deliberative functions are not very large, believes a lawyer, an expert in election law Sergei Alfer.

Plenary powers of the Central Election Committee (CEC) members with deliberative functions are not very large, believes a lawyer, an expert in election law Sergei Alfer.

According to the CEC data, the representatives with deliberative functions were sent to the Committee by seven political parties: the Belarusian Left Party "A Just World", the Liberal Democratic Party, the Communist Party of Belarus, the Belarusian Popular Front party, the United Civil Party, the Republican Party of Labour and Justice, the Belarusian Social Democratic Party ("Hramada").

Representatives of the parties to the CEC can get acquainted with the materials presented at the meeting of the Committee. Sergei Alfer notes that there are significant differences from the plenary powers of the members to the CEC in Russia: they can only get acquainted with those materials, which are presented at the meeting of the Committee. "And this is often just a small number of documents which often does not allow objectively assessing what decision should be taken, and whether the Commission's decision fully meets the requirements of the law", said the lawyer in a conversation with the Information Service ofEuroBelarus.

Also, members of the Committee with deliberative functions are authorized to put questions on the agenda to the Commission, to make proposals to amend the Commission's agenda. Actually, here’s the end of the members’ plenary powers, the expert in election law notes.

"Of course, under their membership in the Commission, if during a meeting an interrogation of other persons takes place, members of the Central Election Committee with deliberative functions have the opportunity to ask questions to third parties for getting complete information on the issue", adds Sergei Alfer.

In practice, the activities of the Central Election Committee members with deliberative functions look in the following way: they come to a meeting, get the agenda of the Commission with all the attached documents to this agenda. "Basically these are prepared draft decisions that are to be considered by the Committee members. If they have any questions on these documents, they can ask them. Herewith the number of questions, the time for discussion is being limited by the chairman of the Committee, and in his absence - by his deputy or by the secretary of the Committee. And if the Committee takes the decision of closure on the issue, the CEC members with deliberative functions can not actually affect this decision", told the expert.

However, according to Sergei Alfer, despite their limited powers, the presence of such people is making some publicity of the CEC activity. "In any case, there appears an additional opinion different from the Committee members’ opinions, and it is possible to try to start a discussion on a certain issue, which in some cases can affect the final decision", said the lawyer.

He noted that during the election campaign to the parliament in 2004 and 2008, the activities of members of the Central Executive Committee with deliberative functions allowed in rare cases to affect the Committee's attitude to the complaints filed by non-registered candidates.

"This issue is largely dependent on the quality of district commissions’ work. And since their work for the most part is extremely unprofessional, then on a number of contentious cases there may appear some disagreements at the CEC sessions. In such cases, it’s easier for the CEC members to take the point of view of the colleagues who have a deliberative vote; of course, if the decision is not of a clearly defined political nature, but is of legal one", said the expert in the field of electoral law.

The CEC members with deliberative functions have become several opposition parties’ representatives. However, it’s hardly worth relying on the consistency of their actions. "Unfortunately, in practice, the representatives of the opposition parties who have a deliberative vote, no way coordinate their activities", Sergei Alfer stated.