Belarusian Party of Communists condemns recent local elections as most undemocratic ever held in Belarus

2003-03-24 13:35:00

Minsk, 24 March. The leaders of the opposition Belarusian Party of Communists (BPC) at their meeting in Minsk this past weekend condemned the recent local elections as the most undemocratic ones ever held in Belarus. The party had intended to field 534 candidates, BPC Secretary Aleksandr Pokhlopko told BelaPAN. However, only 310 party representatives were on the ballot, as 197 candidates had to withdraw from the race because of pressure exerted by the authorities. As a result, 133 BPC representatives won seats in local soviets, with four party members being elected to regional soviets, 61 to district and city soviets and 68 to the soviets of towns and villages. The party leadership approved the decision to concentrate on the elections for villages' and towns' soviets, in which 90 percent of BPC representatives won seats, Mr. Pokhlopko said. Right after the local elections, the party got down to preparations for the parliamentary elections to be held in 2004 and has already made several decisions regarding the forthcoming election campaign, the BPC secretary noted. This May, the BPC will hold a conference, which is expected to result in the adoption of a new party program, Mr. Pokhlopko said.