Group to collect signatures against contracts denied registration

The Belarus's Central Elections Commission on June 26 denied registration to an initiaitve group that wanted to collect signatures for amendments to the Labor Code, seeking to abolish labor contracts. The denial was based on a negative assessment of the draft legislation by the Ministry of Justice. Officials said the draft did not meet the provisions of the law on legal acts and regulations. Besides, the Central Elections Commission also detected that out of 500 members of the group, 5 people did not give their agreement to participate.

The group members proposed to enforce a legal norm in the Labor Code that would bind employers to make contracts only with authoized personnel only. The rest of the employees should be bound by short-term contracts.

Belarus Partisan notes that there have been no cases in Belarus when citizens could take use of their right to a law-making initiative.