“The main problem is communication between the society and the opposition”

The parliamentary election was held in Belarus last Sunday under the authorities’ scenario. In the first round 109 out of 110 MPs were elected to the Chamber of Representatives. All of them are the authorities’ appointees. The repeat election is to be held only in the constituency where an assistant to the Belarusian president broke the slate after he had been fired. Ironically, in that constituency electors came to polling stations only to vote against the only candidate.

According to the statistics of the Belarusian Central Election Committee, 74 percent of voters took part in the election. The opposition observers declared that the real figures are much lower. According to the observers from The Belarusian Christian Democracy, accredited at over 200 polling stations all over the country, voters’ turnout was of about 39 percent. Most democratic parties boycotted this election and in its common declaration the opposition did not recognize the election results legitimate.

Nevertheless, the Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenka claimed that other countries should envy the way the elections are held in Belarus. “In the states where elections are ‘boring’ and calm people, not to mention authorities, are happy. We do not need any revolutions, skirmishes, explosions, and fisticuffs. This is the way elections should be held in civilized states where civilized people live,” Lukashenka said, as cited by media.

The Day asked the leader of the United Civil Party, chairman of the national committee of United Democratic Forces of Belarus Anatol LIABEDZKA to assess the parliamentary election and tell our readers what the Belarusian opposition is going to do to convey its vision of the development of the country.

“It was the worst election campaign ever. Preceding campaigns had not met the requirements of the OSCE but this one was surrealistic. Some things that happened were unprecedented even for Belarus. It was the first time when candidates’ speeches were not broadcasted on radio and television. I am speaking now about the United Civil Party: 34 appearances on radio and television of five minutes each were never broadcasted. Not any previous parliamentary or presidential election campaign had known such blatant and unprecedented political censure. More then ten editions refused to publish programs of the candidates from the United Civil Party. Both things are absolutely illegal.

“Unprecedented was the fact that two largest political parties – United Civil Party and the Belarusian People’s Front – withdrew their candidates a week before the election. As for us, the United Civil Party declared from the very beginning that we would withdraw our candidates since we were not going to follow the power’s rules but carry out our campaign for honest elections without Lukashenka. We even called our 38 registered candidates speakers (we had the most candidates among the opposition forces). We said from the very beginning that our goal is to get a possibility to convey our message to people: Lukashenka and his system is a dead end. The way out is an honest and free election. To make the election honest we have to ignore the dishonest one. That is why we actually urged people to actively boycott it. I have to admit that the statistics given by the authorities are absolutely exaggerated. There cannot be any other estimate since out of 70,000 people who counted votes at polling stations only 61 people represented the opposition. They made only 0.09 percent. It is clear that in such situation we could only observe. Judging from the number of people who came to polling stations we can say that the election was a failure. Observers recorded the turnout of less than 50 percent. Actually, it means a non-confidence vote for the authorities that reported fantastic figures. In fact, people ignored the campaign. It means only a complete degradation of the election system in Belarus and complete non-confidence towards the authorities.

“That is why the opposition does not recognize the legitimacy of this campaign. We think that the observers from OSCE will assess what they saw.”

What were new violations and falsifications during this election?

“Previously we did not use to have any ‘Russian carousels.’ We did not use to have our people bribed with a can of beer or anything of this kind. We had never had lists of voters reduced. These are know-how we encountered during this election. The authorities could always write any numbers. They have a card-blanch since there are no other people in election commissions. They had to pretend that there are people at polling stations. We know that students, military, people from halls of residence and state enterprises were driven there. However, even those people did make the feeling of mass-participation. That is why they used the so-called ‘carousels’ when people were taken by buses from one polling station to another to pretend that people come and vote.”

What was the reason for reducing lists of voters?

“The reason is that the shorter the lists are the better is voters’ turnout at some polling stations.”

Some Belarusian political experts used to say that boycotting the election means the absence of political life in the country. What do you think of it?

“Our party registered its candidates. We appointed our people to commissions but they were never included. We used this partial participation. We came and said: we could have been your candidates but there will be no our surnames in the voting cards and we also said what is going on in reality and why people should ignore this election. All our speeches that were censured from radio and television were spread through the Internet, social networks, and independent press. I think that this tactic was the most successful. At the beginning the opposition was split into two parts: boycotting or going to the end, in the end the trend was active boycotting. We did not take the boycott as lying on a sofa and doing nothing either. It is a bad scenario.”

How do you see the further struggle of the Belarusian opposition for power and how to get through to electors with your program and explain that the system should be changed?

“Now the main task for us is to consolidate and unite those who heard us and did not come to polling stations and those who were made come and did not support any candidate. If we unite and consolidate this group, it will be a huge step forward. Now we consider it important to create an institution that would position itself as a structure presenting interests of those people. It is true that Lukashenka’s supporters got the Chamber of Representatives with nominated MPs. And what would those who did not vote or did not support any candidate get? We must offer them a structure that those people could set their hopes and expectations on and that would represent their interests and present a program of development for Belarus. It is the next step to be taken together with informing. Informing people about what really happens has always been our weak point. That is why it is necessary to resolve the problem of absent communication facilities or their poor quality.

“In three years there will be a presidential campaign. If we consolidate this group, it will be enormous throughout Belarus and there will be a chance to have a strong candidate for the presidential campaign.”

Why do you think there is no communication between the society and the opposition?

“There is nothing new about it. The main problem is difficult communication between people and the opposition. In our country everything is prohibited. This is what we have to overcome. The more tools and mechanisms of communication with people we create the better. Why did we take part in this campaign? It was important for us to get the direct access to electors. Today I cannot just go out and distribute any information materials. I cannot take a megaphone and address people. It is all prohibited. That is why it is important to hold a good information event about this campaign. It is extremely important, since most of people did not come and did not vote. Now they have to be persuaded that they are not alone, they make the majority, give them facts and tell them what is the next step to be taken, what we have to do before the presidential campaign and make our suggestions concerning a very important issue of the next year which privatization is. The value of the matter is 85 billion dollars and this issue is burning for everyone. That is why it is important to give people the right vision and show what the authorities will do. This is how the opposition can get preferences before the presidential campaign.”

How should the West react to this election and does the EU have any leverage to influence the Belarusian authorities?

“The West just must be consecutive, have a common strategy and action plan and speak to the Belarusian authorities in the same language. This did not happen before the presidential campaign. I think our authorities should understand the importance of contacts and communication with the West. Today half of the currency Belarus gets comes from the trade with the West. It is an important tool and leverage to influence the Belarusian authorities. After his relations with the West had degraded, Lukashenka lost a lot in negotiations with the Kremlin, too. Previously, he could blackmail Moscow saying that he would go to the West, but now he does not have this possibility. The scandal with a plane dropping teddy bears is another Lukashenka’s problem in his talks with Moscow since he cannot sell himself as a partner assuring Russia’s security in the West. Today the situation requires that Lukashenka makes up with the West. If so, it is leverage to make Belarus firstly release its political prisoners (there are 16 of them) and secondly put a question of election campaign standards point-blank. Before the presidential election campaign changing law enforcement practice would be topical in Belarus.”