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Article 48
 

The candidates for the President of the Republic of Belarus, for deputies are entitled to establish their own electoral funds to finance electoral campaign expenditures.


The candidates’ electoral funds may be formed from the following monetary funds:


candidates’ own monetary funds which shall not exceed the maximum amount of all expenditures from the electoral fund of the candidate, mentioned in part three of this Article;


2) voluntary donations of the citizens of the Republic of Belarus.The maximum amount of the citizen’s donation shall not exceed 20 base units while holding the elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus; 5 base units while holding the elections of deputies of the House of Representatives, 2 base units while holding the elections of deputies of local Council of Deputies;


3) voluntary donations of legal persons.The maximum amount of the donation of a legal person may not exceed 50 base units while holding the elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus; 10 base units while holding the elections of deputies of the House of Representatives, 5 base units while holding the elections of deputies of local Council of Deputies;


The maximum sum of all the expenditures from the electoral fund of a candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus may not exceed 9,000 base units; a candidate for deputy of the House of Representatives – 1000 base units; a candidate for deputy of regional, Minsk city Council of Deputies 


– 30 base units; while holding elections of deputies of regional, Minsk city Council of deputies, a candidate for deputy of deputies of district, city (cities of regional and district subordination), settlement and rural Councils of Deputies – 10 base units.


Donations to the electoral funds of the candidates shall be prohibited in case they are provided by:


1) foreign states and organizations;


2) foreign citizens and stateless persons;


3) international organizations;


4) organizations with foreign investments;


41) organizations that received in the course of the year preceding the day of making the donation a foreign gratuitous aid from foreign states, foreign organizations, international organizations, foreign citizens and stateless persons, and also from anonymous donors, unless the foreign gratuitous aid received by these organizations was returned by them to foreign states, foreign organizations, international organizations, foreign citizens and stateless persons, which provided it, or in the event of impossibility of the return was remitted (transferred) in the income of the state prior to the day of making donation into the electoral funds;


5) citizens of the Republic of Belarus under the age of 18;


6) state bodies and bodies of local self-government;


7) organizations which are fully or partially financed from the budget;


71) organizations registered, in the established order, less than one year before the day of making the donation;


8) charity and religious organizations;


9) anonymous donators.


To establish his own electoral fund, the candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus, for deputies opens a special electoral account in a branch of the open joint stock company «Belarusbank» Savings Bank».The ground for opening an account is the candidate’s application and a copy of the decision of the Central Commission, territorial, circuit electoral commission on registration of the candidate.


The candidate is entitled to appointing his representative on financial matters.The registration of the candidate’s representative on financial matters shall be made by the Central Commission, territorial, circuit electoral commission on the basis of an application from the candidate.The application shall indicate the surname, first name and patronymic, date of birth, place of residence of the representative on financial matters, series, number and date of issue of the passport of the citizen of the Republic of Belarus.The respective commission within three days from the day of receipt of the application registers the representative on financial matters and issues a certificate. The candidate’s representative on financial matters is entitled to open a special electoral account, to dispose of the funds available on this account, and to submit reports on the receipt to the account and expenditures.The candidate is entitled to recall his representative on financial matters at any time after having accordingly informed the Central Commission, territorial, circuit electoral commission and also the branch of the bank where the candidate has opened a special electoral account.


The candidate is entitled to open only one special electoral account.The procedure for opening the account, performing transactions through the account, and closing the account shall be determined by the Central Commission in agreement with the open joint stock company ―Belarusbank Savings Bank.No payment shall be exacted for the services of the bank in opening the account and performing transactions through the account.The bank pays no interest for using the monetary funds deposited into the special electoral account.The Central Commission, territorial, circuit electoral commission shall send the information on the opening of special electoral accounts of the candidates for the President of the Republic of Belarus, deputies to the press for publication.


When making donations into the special electoral account of the candidate, the citizen shall insert in the payment document the following personal data:surname, name, patronymic, date and place of birth, series and number of the passport of the citizen of the Republic of Belarus.Voluntary donations of legal persons are made by cashless transfers of money into the special electoral account and the payment order shall contain the following data about the legal person:account number of the payer, name, bank details, legal address.


The right to dispose of the funds of the electoral funds belongs to their founding candidates.


The candidates for the President of the Republic of Belarus, for deputies may use the electoral funds to cover the expenses connected with the campaigning and agitation in the order established by the Central Commission.


The candidate is entitled to return to the donator any donation into the electoral fund with the exception of the donations made by anonymous donators.In case the voluntary donation into the electoral fund has been made by a donator who is not entitled to such a donation or in case the amount of the donation exceeds the value specified by part two of this Article, the candidate must, within seven days from the receipt of the donation to the special electoral account, return this donation to the donator either fully or the part of it which exceeds the maximum amount of the donation explaining the reason for the return.


The control over the receipt and use of the means of the electoral funds is exercised by the Central Commission, territorial, circuit electoral commissions and financial bodies.


The branch of the bank in which the special electoral account has been opened shall, on weekly basis, report to the commission that registered the candidate the data on the receipt and spending of the funds put down to the account of the respective candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus, for deputies.The respective commission, within two days after receiving the data, shall forward to the press the information to be published on the total sum of the money receipts to the electoral fund and on the total sum of expenditures.


The candidates shall submit financial reports to the commission that registered them in observing the following time scale:the first financial report shall be submitted not earlier than 15 days and not later than 10 days to the election day; the concluding financial report shall be submitted within five days after the election day.


In case the decision to register the candidate has been annulled or the candidacy has been withdrawn, the respective commission informs of it in writing the branch of the bank which terminates all the operations with the candidate’s special electoral account.


All the banking operations involving the special electoral account are terminated on the election day except returning the unspent means to the electoral fund and entering in the above-stated account the resources that were transferred before the election day.


The unspent monetary means in the special electoral account shall be transferred, within three days after the election, by the candidate for President of the Republic of Belarus, for deputies to the citizens and legal persons which made donations to the candidate’s electoral fund, in proportion to the resources invested.Upon termination of the appointed time, the branch of the bank where the special electoral account has been opened shall transfer the monetary means remaining in that account into the republican budget.On the basis of an application of the candidate, the Central Commission, circuit, territorial electoral commission may prolong the time-limit for carrying out transactions through the special electoral account.


Within the time-limit stipulated in part fourteen of this Article, the candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus, for deputies shall submit to the commission that registered him the financial report on the amount and all the sources for establishing his electoral fund, and on all the expenditures made.The report is accompanies by primary financial documents that confirm the entry, return and spending of the means of the electoral fund, certificates about the remaining resources and (or) about the closure of the candidate’s special electoral account.This procedure is also applied to the persons whose candidacy registrations have been annulled and to the persons who withdrew their candidacies prior to the election day.


If there is a second round of voting on the elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus, the operations on paying the expenditures by using special electoral accounts of the candidates who take part in the second round of voting shall be resumed on the day on which the Central Commission has decided to hold the second voting and shall be ceased on the day of the second voting.


The person being nominated as the candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus has the right to establish their own electoral fund and use this fund in accordance with the requirements of this Article to cover the expenses and services related to the collection of voters' signatures, including the remuneration of members of the initiative group of citizens to nominate him as a candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus.


To open a special electoral account the person being nominated as a candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus shall submit to a branch of the Open Joint Stock Company "Savings Bank" Belarusbank" an application and a copy of the decision of the Central Commission on the registration of the initiative group of citizens on the nomination of this person as a candidate.


The voters shall be informed about the total amount of funds received in the electoral fund and the total amount of money spent by a person being nominated as a candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus in the order established by part thirteen of this Article.


The person being nominated as the candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus and having opened a special electoral account, after registering as a candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus, continues to use the same account submitting to a branch of the bank a copy of the decision of the Central Commission on his registration as a candidate.The total amount of all expenditures from this fund during the nomination as candidate and election campaigning shall not exceed the maximum amount of expenditures mentioned in part three of this Article.


The person being nominated as the candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus, is obliged, not later than on the fifth day after the termination of period for the nomination of candidates for the President of the Republic of Belarus, to submit a financial report to the Central Commission.