We mustn’t go on a leash of regime. Democratic candidates from Homel region withdraw from “election”

• 29.08.2008, 16:34

Representatives of the United Civil Party, the Belarusian Popular Front, unregistered Party of Freedom and Progress and the Belarusian Christian Democracy said today in Homel they would boycott the so called parliamentary election holding in Belarus in autumn.

“Our representatives weren’t included in district election commissions. 7 people from 225 is nothing. We said long time ago what is “election” and what is imitation of “election”. It is impossible to hold real elections in Belarus until this regime exists. I refuse to take part in this farce, though I represent Alyaksandr Milinkevich’s “For Freedom” movement, and he criticise me, he doesn’t believe boycott is effective. Every opposition leader has his own opinion. Everyone agrees the regime is dictatorial, but everyone has different aims. In the Homel region, we are united, we have been working for a long time. Our coalition is the most successful. We told in the begging that only if opposition figures were included in election commissions, there would be sense of running in the “election”. But only a small number of democrats managed to get into commissions, and we withdraw 5 our candidates from “election”, and withdraw our representatives from district and polling stations commissions,” Uladzimir Katsora told in an interview to the Charter’97 press center.

Democratic activists begin an active campaign of boycotting the “election” in the Homel region.

“I call on leaders of the democratic parties to be more consistent and estimate the political situation in the country soberly. We mustn’t go on a leash of the regime. They say they wil withdraw from the “election” later. But when later? What will they say the electorate if they withdraw two days before the “election”? I think, a month will be enough for us to find opportunities to tell the electorate this “election” will be not free and non-democratic,” the politician noted.