CEC would not disclose information about those financing election headquarters

On September 16, there was money only in the election fund of Lukashenka - 202 million, and Karatkevich - 400 thousand. Funds of Ulakhovich and Haidukevich began to be replenished later - information about them will be published only on September 23 in the afternoon. Euroradio is trying to find out the origin and the sum of the money transferred to the candidates.

"Not allowed"

This year the state did not give the candidates a ruble, we have to make it work - wait for donations. The CEC would at first agree to tell the truth. But then they decided to consult their superiors.

"No, we cannot do it... Well, it is, in principle, public information ... Well, come to us. I'll show you. There are six information sheets. I do not know if I can show it. I need to clarify. We have not written these rules down. Yes, in principle, we are all transparent, you can see everything. We inform voters through the media," says the accountant about the list of contributors of Aliaksandr Lukashenka.

Six letters is quite a lot. Moreover, it is only for the first week.  Karatkevich, for example, received donations only from three people. I called back the CEC 15 minutes later and heard from the accountant that I do not have to go to them. Allegedly, the Article 48 of the Electoral Code does not allow for it. So I already know more than I need to. After examining this document, however, we found no prohibitions there.

"Let the candidates tell you"

Chairwoman of the Central Election Commission Lidziya Yarmoshyna invited me to discuss this sensitive issue in private. She said that the Central Electoral Commission would not publish information about the organizations and people who transfer money to candidates. The only way to find out is... to ask the candidates:

"We do not publish this information. We publish only the size of the funds, but not the surnames of the investors. In the end, this is an invasion of privacy. But when candidates want to declassify the information, they can do it. This is the same as in a situation where you went and checked the signature sheets. As a result, the candidates provided you with information of citizens who put their signatures. If candidates want to, they can reveal the names and the names of organizations. If they do not want to - they have the right to refuse. They are only reporting to us."

Thus, the election this year are transparent, but not completely. The Electoral Code spelled out in detail, who can and who cannot transfer the money. And if some candidates are financed by foreign nationals or, God forbid, government agencies, they can receive a warning and sometimes even withdrawn from the election. And only the CEC has the right to ckeck it.

"We volunteered. And who are you anyway?"

Euroradio found out that one of the many donors of the Lukashenka election headquarters is JSC Minsktermaizalyatsyya. Almost immediately after the registration, they transfered 9 million - the maximum amount possible, is no longer permitted under the law -  to their candidate's account. Communication with the enterprise official was not a success. The person who introduced hismelf as the "head of the company" says the financing of Lukashenka was advocated by the Supervisory Board:

"The Supervisory Board. This decision was made by the Supervisory Board of our company. Why Lukashenka? Because we support him, roughly speaking, his views and ideas. I do not want to talk about it on the phone, I do not know who you are. Anyone can say introduce themselves as a correspondent."

Private enterprise Autazhodzina donated to candidate Lukashenka 2 million rubles. Looks like little, but the question about the amount puts the employee of the network of auto parts stores in a stupor, and the deputy head of the company asks "to call back in a while." We were not able to talk more with him.

Euroradio sent a formal request to the Central Election Commission asking to provide information about the names and the businesses that finance the election campaigns of all the four candidates, or to reference a specific item of the Electoral Code to explain why this cannot be done. We will publish the answer immediately upon receiving the reply. It may even happen before the election.