The central election commission on Thursday upheld a denial of registration as a parliamentary candidate for Vintsuk Vyachorka, first deputy chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF).
The election commission in District No. 107 in Minsk claimed that more than 15 percent of the examined ballot-access signatures for Mr. Vyachorka had been found defective.
The politician was not present at Thursday's meeting of the central election commission. According to its secretary, Mikalay Lazavik, Mr. Vyachorka had said in a telephone conversation with him that he would not be able to attend for personal reasons and would accept any decision.
BPF member Yury Karetnikaw’s complaint was turned down on the same grounds.
Mr. Karetnikaw, who planned to run in District No. 99 in Minsk, came to the meeting with written statements by several voters confirming that they had given ballot-access signatures to him and dated the signatures in their own hand.
A "report by experts" gave the district election commission sufficient grounds to deny registration to Mr. Karetnikaw, Mr. Lazavik said. "It’s also unclear how Karentikaw obtained those statements," he added.
Messrs. Vyachorka and Karetnikaw are on the list of parliamentary nominees of the United Pro-democratic Forces.
On September 4, the central election commission considered 23 complaints and reversed the denial of registration for three people, namely, Volha Shakhanava, a temporarily unemployed person without party affiliation; former lawmaker Uladzimir Navasyad and Vasil Karankevich, an instructor at a road construction school in Homyel who is a member of the pro-government Belaya Rus association. They were placed on the ballot in District No. 92 in Minsk, District No. 94 in Minsk, and District No. 34 in Homyel, respectively. //BelaPAN
Around 170 billion rubels in public funds is projected to be spent on 2009 preparations for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Belarus, Deputy Finance Minister Uladzimir Amaryn said at a meeting with members of the House of Representatives on Thursday.
Under the ministry's 2009 budget estimates, some 700 billion rubels is to be earmarked for support of the real economic sector, 1.5 times more than this year, with 262 billion rubels to account for direct subsidies.
Some 2,000 billion rubels in loans and subsidies from the state budget is to go toward housing construction projected at six million square meters. In addition, 314 billion rubels from the state and local budgets is projected to be spent on the laying of supply pipelines at new developments.
Spending on the agricultural sector is slated at 4,500 billion rubels, with 1,000 billion rubels in funds from the state budget to be spent under the government's programs, 1,000 rubels to come from local budgets and 2,500 billion rubels to come from the agriculture support fund.
Around 438 billion rubels is to be earmarked for compensation payments to borrowers for loan interests and expenditures on corporate bonds. Spending on the government's investment program is to total 1,500 billion rubels compared with 971 billion rubels this year.
A total of 10,600 billion rubels is to go toward the government's 61 programs, 38 percent more than this year. //BelaPAN
Russian businesspeople are alarmed by the Belarusian government’s move to impose a 30-percent ceiling on markups on the prices of imported goods, Aleksey Kiselyov, head of Russia’s trade mission in Belarus, told reporters in Minsk on September 4.
“We are concerned that Russian exports to Belarus may fall as a result of this decision,” he said. “We are closely studying all materials presented by Belarus’ business community and I must stress that these materials are absolutely correct and aimed at preserving economic stability in Belarus.”
Belarus currently has an $8-billion deficit in trade with Russia, according to Mr. Kiselyov.
Speaking at the news conference, Uladzimir Karahin, chairman of the Minsk Capital Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers, noted that many more foreign diplomatic missions were alarmed by the Belarusian government’s directive. “The embassies are concerned about the adoption of the rule in Belarus. They ask us whether they should recommend their companies to continue operating, suspend operations, introduce some changes or prepare appropriate measures,” he noted. //BelaPAN
Former presidential candidates Alyaksandr Milinkevich and Alyaksandr Kazulin have been registered as authorized representatives of parliamentary candidate Ihar Rynkevich.
As Mr. Rynkevich told BelaPAN, he has a total of 15 registered authorized representatives, including opposition activists Mikhail Hancharyk and Aleh Volchak, who were on the ballot in his electoral district during the 2004 elections, a group of young Social Democrats, and human rights defenders Katsyaryna Sadowskaya and Ihar Lednik.
Authorized representatives may campaign for their candidates, deal on their behalf with authorities and election commissions, and act as election observers.
A member of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party "Hramada" and a close associate of Dr. Kazulin, Mr. Rynkevich is on the list of parliamentary nominees of the United Pro-democratic Forces. The activist, who is a lawyer by education, is running in District No. 104 in Minsk.
The Belarusian government plans to abolish 20 taxes by 2011, Uladzimir Amaryn, deputy minister of finance, said at a meeting of standing committees in the House of Representatives in Minsk on Thursday.
The official noted that the Belarusian taxation system would be similar to those in other countries in a few years’ time.
In particular, he said, the government will scrap mandatory contributions to the agriculture support fund, local profit taxes and a tax on vehicle purchases.
The number of taxes is expected to be reduced to 27, with only eight to be paid by businesses regularly, Mr. Amaryn said.
“The rest of the taxes are to be paid depending on the sphere where the company or organization operates, that is, say, they include excise taxes, a tax on lottery proceeds, state fees, etc.,” the deputy minister said.
Mr. Amaryn predicted that the tax burden on the economy would be reduced by 1.3 percent of GDP in 2009. “This is some two trillion rubels, which will be kept by taxpayers and become an additional factor of raising the competitive capacity of Belarusian goods in external markets, a source of company working assets and investments,” he said.
The government plans to cut the rate of contributions to the agriculture support fund from two to one percent of companies’ proceeds, which will help taxpayers save some 1.4 trillion rubels.
In addition, equipment used by companies for manufacturing their products is to be removed from the list of taxable property.
The rate of mandatory contributions to the Social Security Fund is to be cut from 35 to 34 percent of the payroll next year, according to Mr. Amaryn. //BelaPAN
5 September 2008
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