Valery Tsapkala loses registration appeal in Supreme Court hearing
The Supreme Court confirmed at yesterday’s hearing the July 14 decision by the Central Election Commission, which rejected the presidential nomination bid of Valery Tsapkala, one of Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s key rivals in the August 9 election.
The CEC barred Tsapkala from running in the race after the election authorities found thousands of his support signatures to be invalid, mostly due to formal errors. CEC chairperson Lidziya Yarmoshyna said only 75,000 signatures were validated, while Tsapkala earlier claimed his nomination team submitted over 200 thousand, all of which he said were authentic.
Yarmoshyna also argued the presidential nominee failed to report Priorbank shares in his and his wife’s income and property declaration.
On July 17, the Supreme Court ruled not to consider a similar appeal filed by the lawyers of another alternative candidate, Viktar Babaryka, who is currently held in pre-trial detention on criminal charges.
- Viktar Babaryka's campaign poster. Photo: tut.by
The court said that the nominee should have complained in person, rather than using the power of attorney in the name of his counsels. The lawyers, however, stress the possibility is provided by the law. Representatives of Babaryka’s campaign team also say the authorities intentionally banned the barred candidate’s visits in prison, so that he could not meet with his lawyers and sign the appeal.