A/HRC/32/48 105. The Parliament of Belarus has for two decades been the only legislative body in Europe without any members of an opposition, and has had no effective competence to actually legislate, given the power of the President to rule by decree. 106. In the light of the upcoming parliamentary elections in September 2016, the Special Rapporteur remains concerned about the Government’s broad discretionary powers to deny registration of or to deregister political parties. The Belarusian authorities have not registered a single new political party since 2000, and political parties are repeatedly denied registration. For instance, on 14 August 2015, the Ministry of Justice refused to register the Belarusian Christian Democracy party for the fifth time. Consequently, on 14 September 2015, the leaders of the party filed a complaint with the Supreme Court against the refusal. In December, the party founders submitted an application for registration for the sixth time. 107. Registered oppositional political parties often face the rejection of their requests for public meetings. For instance, the Belarusian Party of the Left “Fair World” reported that that every one of its 65 applications for permission to hold meetings with voters had been rejected; the United Civil Party claimed that all eight of its requests had been rejected; and all 16 applications by members of the organizing committee of Belarusian Christian Democracy had been turned down. By contrast, parties and associations that support the incumbent parties were permitted to hold a large number of events.18 108. The Special Rapporteur notes the creation, on 12 February 2016, of an interdepartmental expert group on the recommendations made by the OCSE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights on measures to improve the electoral process. He nonetheless regrets that the recommendations on amending the Electoral Code will be examined only after the parliamentary elections in September, and that civil society is not represented in the working group. 109. The Special Rapporteur points out that the six political prisoners (including some former presidential candidates) released (see para. 4 above) still have no civil rights, and therefore cannot stand for election. 110. In 2015, the Special Rapporteur presented his comprehensive assessment of the situation of elections-related human rights (see A/HRC/29/43). The recommendations were made in view of the presidential election of October 2015, and they remain valid for the parliamentary elections to be held in September 2016. 111. The most desirable reform steps would be to allow the free flow of political information and inclusive debates in the mass media; to repeal the law of 2013 criminalizing calls to boycott elections; to ensure the registration of parties and their participation in election committees; and to make turnout and vote results verifiable (see A/HRC/29/43 and A/70/313). 112. The Special Rapporteur stresses that lack of violence is only an initial precondition for the full respect of article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The forthcoming parliamentary elections in 2016 will be an opportunity for the authorities to show their commitment to reform by ensuring that free and fair parliamentary elections lead to the formation of a strong, pluralistic legislative body. 18 18 Ibid.