§ Article 61(untitled)

rocedure for nominating candidates for President of the Republic of
 Belarus
 Nomination of a candidate for President of the Republic of Belarus by citizens is carried out
by an initiative group of voters (hereinafter referred to as the initiative group) of at least 100
people.
 To register an initiative group with the Central Commission, no later than 85 days before
the elections, a person who intends to be nominated as a candidate for the President of the
Republic of Belarus must submit:
 a written application for registration of an initiative group, which indicates the surname, first
name and patronymic (if any), date of birth, position of the employee (worker's profession,
occupation), place of work and place of residence, length of residence on the territory of the
Republic of Belarus, party membership of the person, intending to run as a candidate for the
President of the Republic of Belarus;
 copies of passport pages confirming citizenship of the Republic of Belarus and registration
on the territory of the Republic of Belarus (copy of the front side of the identification card of a
citizen of the Republic of Belarus) of a person who intends to be nominated as a candidate for
President of the Republic of Belarus;
 a list of members of the initiative group indicating the head of the initiative group and
coordinators for districts, cities of regional subordination, districts in cities, if the collection of
signatures will be carried out on their territory. In the list of members of the initiative group, for
each member of the initiative group the surname, first name and patronymic (if any), date of
birth, place of residence, series and number of the passport of a citizen of the Republic of
Belarus (number of the identification card of a citizen of the Republic of Belarus) are indicated.
The list also indicates the surname, first name and patronymic (if any) of the person proposed
for nomination as a candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus. The list of members
of the initiative group is presented in printed and electronic form.
 A person who intends to be nominated as a candidate for the President of the Republic of
Belarus submits to the Central Commission the documents specified in part two of this article
and presents a passport of a citizen of the Republic of Belarus (identification card of a citizen of
the Republic of Belarus). Documents can be submitted to the Central Commission by a
representative of a person who intends to be nominated as a candidate for the President of the
Republic of Belarus, exercising his powers on the basis of a notarized power of attorney or a
power of attorney certified in the manner established by paragraph 3 and part one of paragraph
4 of Article 186 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus .
 A person who intends to be nominated as a candidate for the President of the Republic of
Belarus, or the head of an initiative group, has the right to make changes to the documents
submitted for registration of the initiative group no later than one day before the Central
Commission considers the issue of registering the initiative group, as well as to get acquainted
with the materials of verification of these documents.
 The Central Commission considers the application within five days from the date of its
receipt, registers the initiative group and issues to the members of the initiative group the
appropriate certificates and signature sheets for collecting voter signatures in support of the
person proposed to be nominated as a candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus
(hereinafter referred to as the signature sheet). Registration of an initiative group is denied in
case of violation of the requirements of this Code.
 The Central Commission has the right, without prior warning, to cancel the decision to
register an initiative group in the event of repeated violation by members of the initiative group
of the requirements of this Code, if a warning was previously issued.
 The decision to refuse to register an initiative group or to cancel the decision to register an
initiative group may be appealed within three days from the date of the decision to the Supreme
Court of the Republic of Belarus, respectively, by a person who intends to be nominated as a
candidate, or by a person nominated as a candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus.
The Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus considers the complaint within three days.
 The Central Commission cancels the decision to register an initiative group on the basis of
an application from a person nominated as a candidate for the President of the Republic of
Belarus.
 The signature sheet indicates the surname, first name and patronymic (if any), date of birth,
position of the employee (worker's profession, occupation), place of work and place of
residence (city; urban-type settlement or rural settlement indicating the district), party affiliation
of the person proposed for nomination as a candidate for the President of the Republic of
Belarus, as well as the last name, first name and patronymic (if any) of the member of the
initiative group collecting signatures, and the registration number of the initiative group.
 The signature sheet must contain the signatures of voters living in the territory of only one
city of regional subordination, district, and in cities with regional division - one district.
 A voter has the right to sign in support of a person proposed for nomination as a candidate
for the President of the Republic of Belarus only once.
 The signature sheet for a voter supporting a person proposed for nomination as a candidate
for the President of the Republic of Belarus shall indicate the surname, first name and
patronymic (if any), date of birth, place of residence, series and number of the passport of a
citizen of the Republic of Belarus (citizen identification card number Republic of Belarus) or
details of another document determined by the Central Commission. Voter information is
entered into the signature sheet in handwriting. The voter personally puts the signature date
on the signature sheet and signs. Signatures are numbered.
 Participation of the organization's administration in the collection of signatures, as well as
coercion in the process of collecting signatures and rewarding voters for submitting a signature,
is not permitted. Violation of these requirements may be grounds for refusal to register or
cancellation of the decision to register a candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus.
 The collection of voter signatures can be carried out in the form of picketing. Obtaining
permission to conduct picketing for these purposes is not required if it is carried out in places
not prohibited by local executive and administrative bodies.
 The signature sheet is certified by the member of the initiative group who collected the
signatures. When certifying the signature sheet, a member of the initiative group puts a
signature and the date of its entry, and also indicates the surname and initials.
 Voters who have nominated a candidate for President of the Republic of Belarus have the
right, before submitting signature sheets to the district, city, city district commission for the
election of the President of the Republic of Belarus, to remove their signatures from the
signature sheets by submitting an application to the said commissions.
 Coordinators for districts, cities, districts in cities submit signature sheets no later than 50
days before the elections to the district, city, district commission for the election of the President
of the Republic of Belarus, which within ten days verifies the authenticity of voters' signatures
in the signature sheets and ensures the accuracy of the data about the number of such
signatures. At least 20 percent of voter signatures on signature sheets submitted to the relevant
commission are subject to verification.
 The procedure for selecting signature sheets for verification is determined at a meeting of
the relevant commission. Based on the results of checking the accuracy of the data in the
signature sheets, the voter’s signature is recognized as reliable or unreliable.
 The signatures of voters and the data corresponding to them are not subject to verification
and recording if they are on the signature sheets, but excluded (crossed out) by a member of
the initiative group who collected the signatures before submitting the signature sheets to the
relevant commission, if this exception is specifically agreed upon in writing by him. Voter
signatures and corresponding data are also not subject to verification and recording if the
signature sheet does not contain information about the person nominated as a candidate.
 If the signature sheet received by the district, city, district commission in a city contains
signatures of voters living in the territory of different districts, cities of regional subordination,
districts in the city, only signatures collected in the territory of that district, city, district are
subject to verification and recording in the city where the commission to which this subscription
sheet was submitted was formed. Other signatures are not verified and are not taken into
account.
 The following are considered invalid signatures:
 fictitious signatures (executed on behalf of non-existent persons and presented as valid);
 voter signatures made on behalf of different persons by one person or on behalf of one
person by another person;
 signatures of persons who do not have the right to vote;
 signatures of voters who indicated data on the signature sheet that does not correspond to
reality;
 signatures of voters collected before the deadline for nominating candidates;
 signatures of voters, if information about them lacks one or more data required by this
Code;
 signatures of voters, if data about them is entered into the signature sheet in a non-
handwritten manner or in pencil, as well as signatures, the dates of which were entered by voters
not in their own hand;
 all voter signatures on the signature sheet, if the signatures were collected by a person who
is not a member of the initiative group, or if the signature sheet is not certified by a member of
the initiative group or certified by another member of the initiative group who did not collect
these signatures;
 voter signatures collected in violation of the requirements of part thirteen of this article.
 If multiple signatures from the same voter are found in support of the nomination of the
same candidate, only one signature is considered valid, and the remaining signatures are
considered invalid.
 If the number of invalid signatures of voters discovered during verification is more than 15
percent of the number of verified signatures, an additional verification of another 15 percent of
voter signatures is carried out from the number of signatures on the signature sheets submitted
to the relevant commission.
 If the total number of invalid voter signatures identified during checks is more than 15
percent of the total number of verified signatures on signature sheets, all voter signatures on
submitted signature sheets are not taken into account when determining the result of collecting
voter signatures in a district, city, or district within a city. .
 If necessary, the regional and Minsk city commissions for the election of the President of
the Republic of Belarus can also check the authenticity of voters’ signatures on the signature
sheets within five days.
 Based on the protocols of district, city, city district commissions for the election of the
President of the Republic of Belarus on establishing the number of voters who put their
signatures in the signature sheets on the nomination of a candidate for President of the
Republic of Belarus, and the results of checks carried out by the regional, Minsk city commission
on the authenticity of voters' signatures in the signature sheets the regional, Minsk city
commi