How much money and what expenses are allocated to election commissions? Such information, according to independent observers, should be published in the state media and on official websites of the executive committees to comply with the provisions of the law on the transparency of elections. The corresponding offer was made by the observer of the campaign "Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections" Leonid Svetik from Viciebsk.

The reason for the appeal to the Viciebsk city election commission was information that on December 8 at the meeting of the commission its budget was approved. When proposing to publish the text of the commission's budget in the official media and on the website of the Viciebsk city executive committee, the human rights activist referred to part 1 of Article 13 of the Electoral Code: "The preparation and conduct of elections for deputies of local Councils of Deputies are carried out openly and publicly."

The chairman of the city commission, Natalia Lepeshkina, responded to the observer by saying that the Electoral Code and the Resolution of the Central Commission of 15.11.2017 No. 39 "On informing citizens about the work on preparing and holding elections to the local Councils of Deputies of the Republic of Belarus of the twenty-eighth convocation" informing citizens through the media or official Internet sites of state bodies about the budget of the election campaign are not provided. She also added that the observer has the right to submit his proposal to the Central Election Commission.

It is worth noting that, after rejecting the observer's proposal, the election commission went along the old and well-trodden path: once the information on the election campaign budget is not indicated in a certain list, it should not be implemented.

But human rights defenders in this issue appeal to the fact that the activities of election commissions should be carried out openly and publicly, and transparent financing of all stages of the election campaign is an important component of free and fair elections.

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