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Car import duty question is inappropriate for referendum, central election commission says

A senior member of the central election commission made clear on Thursday that a group planning to initiate a referendum on a feared increase in the rates of the import duty on cars would not be registered no matter how it formulated its proposed question, BelaPAN reports.

The commission, at its May 20 meeting, voted unanimously to reject the group's registration application, citing conclusions by the Prosecutor General's Office and the justice ministry, which said that the question that the group planned to bring up to referendum was "unclear" and "replies to it could be interpreted differently."

The question proposed by the group was as follows, "Do you support keeping the rate of the duty on foreign-made cars imported to the Republic of Belarus at the November 26, 2009 level?"

Speaking at the meeting, Ihar Lyalkow, a leader of the group, asked for permission to formulate the question differently.

"This is not about the wording but about the sense," replied Mikalay Lazavik, secretary of the commission. "No matter how the question is formulated, it deals with granting the population the right to introduce or abolish taxes. Under the constitution, this is the right of the president and parliament."

Lidziya Yarmoshyna, head of the commission, echoed the opinion. "This matter deals with changing the budget. I also believe that the question cannot be brought up to referendum," she said.