Free Republic

Following last week's scheduling of a presidential vote for 19 March 2006 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 December 2005), the Central Election Commission said it will register nomination groups to collect signatures in support of presidential candidates until 23 December, Belapan reported. To get on the ballot, a presidential contender needs to collect at least 100,000 voter signatures. Apart from democratic opposition candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich, who was selected in October to challenge President Alyaksandr Lukashenka (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 October 2005), four more aspirants have signaled their intention to run. They are lawmaker Syarhey Haydukevich, leader of the Belarusian Liberal Democratic...