8 November, Minsk /BELTA correspondent/. Precise data on the number of signatures collected by voters in support of the nomination of candidates for the President of Belarus will be submitted to the Central Election Commission by 13 November. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by the Central Commission for Elections and National Referendums. Today, 8 November, the verification of the authenticity of signatures submitted by presidential hopefuls is being completed at local election commissions – district and city level. Over 10 days, they have been determining the number of signatures collected for each district, for cities of regional subordination, and for each district within a city that has district divisions. By the end of today, they are to submit verified signature data (along with protocols, verification reports, and conclusions, if any expert examinations were conducted) to the regional and Minsk city commissions. Another 5 days are allocated by electoral legislation for the regional and Minsk city commissions to summarise the signature collection results for the regions and for Minsk. They are also authorised to consider appeals and complaints related to signature verification. The final day for the protocols of the regional and Minsk city commissions on establishing the number of signatures in support of presidential candidates' nominations to be submitted to the CEC is 13 November. After this, it will be known which of the 11 hopefuls who declared collecting over 100,000 signatures has indeed crossed this threshold and will be able to register as a candidate. The CEC intends to complete the registration by 19 November, so that candidates can conduct their campaigning for a month prior to the elections. The Presidential election in Belarus will be held on 19 December 2010. -0-

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