Proportion of political parties' contenders is “obviously too high“

The proportion of political parties’ nominees among the contenders for the House of Representatives is "obviously too high," Lidziya Yarmoshyna, head of the central election commission, told reporters in Minsk on Friday.

There are a total of 494 parliamentary contenders and 264 of them were nominated by political parties.

"This is a very large representation for a country where political parties are still an exotic phenomenon," Ms. Yarmoshyna said. "This is an obviously too high percentage considering parties’ proportion in the social structure of society."

According to Ms. Yarmoshyna, there are also many unemployed persons and small business owners among the parliamentary contenders.