Right of Initiative for Holding the Local Referendum
The right of initiative for holding the local referendum shall be vested in the local representative bodies and the citizens of the Republic of Belarus, permanently residing in the territory of the respective Oblast, region, town, town district, urbanised settlement, or rural council. The citizen shall express their initiative in the form of a proposal put forth by at least 10 per cent of the citizens, possessing electoral rights and residing in the respective territory.
The citizens, putting forth the initiative to hold a referendum, shall form an initiative group, which shall include the persons qualified to take part in the referendum, and have the following number of members:
for an Oblast and the City of Minsk: not less than 50 persons;
for a region, town or town district: not less than 20 persons; and
for an urbanised settlement or rural Council: not less than 10 persons.
Documents on the holding of the local referendum submitted by the initiative group and the question proposed for the referendum shall be forwarded by the local executive and administrative body for conclusion to the respective Oblast or the Minsk City department of justice which shall verify the compliance of the question proposed for the referendum with the requirements of the legislation and the observance of the initiative group formation procedure.
The question proposed for the local referendum, taking into account the conclusion by the respective Oblast justice body or Minsk City justice body, and the Initiative group composition shall be registered by the respective local executive and administrative body.
Within 30 days of the date of application for registration, the initiative group shall be issued a registration certificate, a sample signature list, and members of the initiative group shall be issued the respective certificate.
Registration shall be refused in the event of violation of the provisions of this Code and other legislative acts of the Republic of Belarus. An appeal against the refusal to register the initiative group may be lodged within a month with a respective regional (district) or town court.
If the executive and administrative bodies have established that the required number of authentic signatures have been collected, the initiative group on holding the local referendum shall make a final certificate and submit it to the respective executive and administrative body which shall hand it over to the local Council of Deputies.
