Milinkevich refused to run in parliamentary “elections”
- 24.06.2008, 16:43
Leader of the “For Freedom” movement Alyaksandr Milinkevich won’t run in the coming parliamentary “elections” as a candidate for deputy.
However, the opposition politician said he was going to become an agent of the candidates, who would invite him to trip around Belarus with propaganda campaign. Viktar Karnyaenka, member of the “For Freedom” movement, said it.
“We don’t have our own campaign, there is a united campaign we take part in. The “For Freedom” movement won’t nominate any of its candidates. We are not a political party and won’t gain for seats in this parliament,” Telegraf quotes Viktar Karnyaenka, referring to Radio Svaboda.
He noted, there were offers on nomination “For Freedom” movement candidates for deputies, but in the end the majority gave up this idea, Telegraf reports.
The administration of the “European Belarus” civil campaign refused to run in the elections, too.
“The objective of the civil campaign European Belarus is promotion of European values in our country and gathering signatures of Belarusian citizens for joining the European Union. Members of the civil campaign take independent decisions whether they run for the elections or not. Most of the active participants of the “European Belarus” civil campaign stand for boycotting of the coming “elections”, because the present regime in the country doesn’t create any conditions for more or less transparent and fair electoral processes,“ the Charter’97 press center quotes Andrei Sannikov, one of the leaders of the civil campaign.
Kalyakin is sure oppositionists won’t get in the parliament
Syarhei Kalyakin, head of the Party of Communist of Belarus, said he didn’t believe the opposition candidates could obtain mandates. “I think there will be no mandates,” he stated.
Syarhei Kalyakin noted “it will be a harsh political, campaign”. “It can be harsher than the campaign of 2004. They take all possible actions – pressure, withdrawal, no access to agitation and election commissions and denial of registration,” the PCB leader thinks.
Nevertheless, Syarhei Kalyakin noticed, the opposition should run in the elections. “The main thing in any election campaign is struggle for thoughts and souls of citizens. It is a rewarding work even if there are no elections,” he said.