How to campaign

Campaigning means activities aimed at encouraging or actually encouraging the people to take part in the election, vote for certain candidates or against them. Each citizen of the Republic of Belarus has the right for free and unrestricted discussion of the presidential candidates’ electoral programmes, their personal qualities and competencies, as well as to campaign in favour or against any of the candidates.

Each person is entitled to discuss the presidential candidates freely with their families at home, with their neighbours near their house, on their way to work, in a cafe or while spending time in nature with friends. Nobody can prohibit wearing clothes with the certain candidate’s symbols or images, or pasting your own car with the latter (however, the SAI (State Automobile Inspectorate) might issue a fine for that).

Nevertheless, pay attention and be careful: do not use any special equipment when campaigning and do not encourage mass gatherings; this can be recognized a violation of the law on public events.

If you wish to discuss the candidates within a large group of people, you should apply to the local executive committee asking for a room to hold the meeting with other voters.

The official presidential candidate’s leaflet shall be approved by the CEC, printed only for the election fund money; it shall have indication of the print run.

But you have plenty of materials to share! The 5 principles of the joint headquarters, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s interviews and speeches (use only the verified sources!), main points of the programme. These you can share on your own.

Prohibited when campaigning:

• abusive language or lies in relation to the officials and presidential candidates;
• calls for election obstruction, cancellation or rescheduling;
  war propaganda;
• calls for violent change of the constitutional form of the Republic of Belarus, its territorial integrity; advocacy for or propaganda of, the social, racial, national, religious or language superiority;
• issue and distribution of the materials inciting social, racial, national or religious hostility and hatred, propagating war;
  disbursement of money, giving presents and other items of value, holding goods discounted sales, providing free services or goods of any kind except
• for the printed campaigning materials produced in accordance with the Election Code for the election campaign;
• influence upon the citizens by promising them money, material valuables;
• campaigning for a presidential candidate funded with the other candidates’ election funds.

Please, respect campaigning for other candidates. It is prohibited to remove, paste over, paint over, damage the campaigning materials that have been produced and placed in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Belarus.

Remember: many things depend on your initiative! The campaigning issues are also addressed in Articles 45 to 47 of the Electoral Code.