UCP nominates Romanchuk to run in repeat election in Grodno

2005-02-06 15:30:00

Minsk, 6 February. The United Civic Party (UCP) at its special convention in Minsk on February 6 nominated UCP Deputy Chairman Yaroslav Romanchuk to contest for a parliamentary seat in a repeat election in Grodno. District N52 is the only one of Belarus' 110 single-member districts that will hold the repeat election on March 20. Apart from Mr. Romanchuk, former MPs Valery Frolov and Sergei Skrebets, as well as Sergei Antusevich of the Belarusian Popular Front and Sergei Maskevich, rector of Grodno State University, plan to run. Some delegates voiced strong opposition to Mr. Romanchuk's nomination, saying that he would draw votes away from other opposition candidates. Mr. Romanchuk argued that he would take advantage of the legal opportunity to conduct his campaign to promote the UCP ideas. He added that he might step aside in favor of a stronger opposition candidate a few days before the vote. Anatoly Lebedko, leader of the party, assured the delegates that the opposition coalition Five Plus will find a way to choose a single candidate out of the four pro-democracy politicians running in the district.