The founding committee for the Belarusian Party of Working People (BPWP) has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against the justice ministry's decision to deny the party state registration.
"We believe that the justice ministry has made a decision that runs counter to laws,"Alyaksandr Bukhvostaw, leader of the party, told BelaPAN.
"We want to prove in court that we have all documents needed for the registration of the party, including those regarding the holding of meetings by initiative groups, the sufficient number of founders, etc."
The politician stressed that "today in Belarus legal issues are not key to the registration of a party, everything depends on the authorities’ political decision."
The justice ministry announced on October 20 that it had rejected the party’s application for state registration.
The actual number of the party's founders was smaller than the required minimum, the ministry explained.
The justice ministry asked the BPWP to submit the minutes of the meetings held by the organizing committee for the founding conference and other papers relating to the conference, but the BPWP refused to do so, explaining that the minutes had been examined by the mandate commission.
The founding committee did not comply even after the ministry had decided to postpone its decision on the registration application and given the BPWP time to submit the required papers, the ministry said. The ministry also accused the BPWP of submitting false information about its founders.
The BPWP founding committee filed the registration application with the justice ministry on August 24. Sixty-five delegates reportedly attended the party’s founding conference, which took place in Minsk on July 26. They adopted the party's program and charter.
Mr. Bukhvostaw, a prominent trade union leader, was elected chairman of the party and Mikalay Pakhabaw and Andrey Yewdakimovich were elected deputy chairmen.
The Belarusian Party of Working People is viewed as the successor to the Belarusian Party of Labor, which was closed in 2004.
The Belarusian Party of Labor was founded in 1993 and led by Mr. Bukhvostaw for most of its existence. It was closed in August 2004 for allegedly providing false information about its membership and failing to obtain a valid legal address and abide by its own charter.
