Elections or a farce?



Elections of deputies of local Council will take place in Belarus on April 25. The correspondent decree was signed by the president of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko on January 18. As we know, this campaign will take place according to the tacks of elective legislation. Foreign structures and especially Office for democratic institutions and human rights of OSCE insisted on introducing these tacks.

There was much written and said about the essence of these improvements so it’s senseless to speak on the topic in details again. Let’s just sum up points of view of independent Belarusian and foreign experts and highlight the fact that these changes won’t influence the situation greatly, because the most vulnerable problems – counting of votes and observing the process – remained almost not changed, and those who will have the position of observer, won’t have an opportunity to approach the tables where the content of ballot boxes would be emptied. Early polling also remains, and opponents of the regime will have almost no possibility to observe it – limited resources and little stimulation for taking part in this process won’t let the opponents of the ruling regime to control this doubtful act of will expression of public in one hundred percent. Obviously, the opposition won’t introduce its candidates to every election district. As the chairman of United public party Anatoly Lebiedzko noted, with the objective potential of 1000 volunteers for a candidate’s mandate his party would present candidates from 150 to 300 persons. And moreover, according to the words of the politics, it’s all in stimuli. “Ermoshina, Lukashenko and other people from the authorities made everything they could to kill the stimuli of taking part in elections in people”, - stated the chairman of UPP. BNF Party is ready to present for election from 130 to 150 deputies’ candidates. Other parties and organizations still didn’t concretize the level of their participation in local elections. The leader of BNFP Aleksey Yanukievich doesn’t exclude the fact that in major towns, especially in Minsk, there will be rivalry in the districts between candidates from different opposition structures, but the young politician doesn’t see any tragedy in this fact. The other question is in what atmosphere these local elections, which will become a rehearsal of the main election in five years – the elections of the head of the country, will tale place. Already today democratic society is put under a great pressure. “Radio Svaboda” gave examples of suppressing teachers: officials from “national education” force teachers to decline the participation in elections as candidates for deputies and force them to write claims of leaving political parties (of course, opposition ones). They threaten teachers by the possibility of dismissal without any later possibility of finding a job in the sphere of education. All these facts witness “democratization and liberalization” of Belarusian society on the eve of important political campaigns. There is an impression that the forthcoming elections would be only a fraud and all roles and actors are already stated. It would be great if it’s a mistake, but it’s unlikely….

Gennady LOGINOV