MILINKEVICH TO AID LOCAL PRO-DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES

2006-10-06

By Pavel KIRYLAW

The House of Representatives on October 2 voted 103 to three to approve changes to the Electoral Code that would restrict campaigning opportunities for the opposition. The lower chamber gave at once both readings to the amendments, which had been proposed by the Belarusian leader.

The authorities rush the amendments through the bicameral National Assembly a few months before local elections expected to take place in early January.

Under the bill, candidates would be allowed to hold outdoor meetings with voters only after obtaining a special permit from the local authorities and only in specially designated places. The local authorities would be required to consider applications for permission to hold such meetings within three days.

Lidziya Yarmoshyna, head of the central election commission who commented on the bill to the House, explained that some candidates in the 2006 presidential race "did not behave adequately." "[Alyaksandr] Milinkevich held meetings at any square of Minsk, that is why we found it necessary for this to be more clearly regulated legislatively," she said.

In addition, the bill would ban the printing of campaign material abroad and would entitle the election authorities to remove candidates and aspirants from a race for the use of foreign assistance in their campaign.

The amendments would also ban proposing for a local referendum issues that are governed by national regulations.

The bill would reduce from 10 to five days the pre-election period during which the publication of the results of opinion polls is banned. "This will be logical, as early voting begins five days before an election," Yarmoshyna commented.

The amendments would abolish the second (runoff) round in local elections. The candidate who gains the largest number of votes in the first round would be declared the winner in the election. This system is applied in Britain and Ukraine and was applied in Russia until recently, Yarmoshyna said.

Belarus is expected to have elections for local soviets on January 14, 2007. Some 24,000 members of local soviets (councils) of all levels were elected in the previous local elections held in early 2003. The government says that the amendments would enable it to save about six billion rubels. The local elections are estimated to cost the taxpayers some 28.5 billion rubels.

The abolition of the second round does not make a big difference for the opposition. The opposition leaders say that authorities-backed candidates will have an advantage in an overwhelming majority of districts because of likely vote rigging.

However, MP Volha Abramava says that opponents have better chances, because in some districts it would be enough to gain 12 to 15 percent of the vote to defeat contenders.

Pavel Mazheyka, spokesman for former presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich, told that the amendments were primarily intended to limit opportunities for opposition candidates to meet with voters. During the 2006 presidential campaign, Milinkevich toured the country and held many meetings with voters without asking the authorities for permission. If amendments are approved by the upper chamber and signed into law by the Belarusian leader, the authorities would be able to deny permits or designate remote locations to make it more difficult for candidates to gather many people.

Last week Milinkevich said he planned to act as campaign aide for "a big number of candidates" in the local elections, viewing this as an opportunity to "tour as many cities as possible."

"During the presidential election I thought I had the right to hold rallies anywhere and did this despite warnings from the authorities," he said in Wednesday's online questions-and-answers session. "The regime is afraid of us very much. [It] is afraid of our dialog with people. We will find opportunities to hold various meetings together with candidates for local soviets during the elections."

"We've been stripped of the right to choose. The main objective of pro-democracy forces' strategy is street protests. I mean peaceful street protests, without any radical actions, but street protests are our only chance to oust the regime," the politician went on to say.

Other opposition leaders are still undecided. On the one hand, local elections are not a big deal, while their pre-programmed result can tarnish one's image. On the other, if heavyweights stayed away, the elections would be of little interest to voters and the opposition will find it more difficult to communicate its ideas.

The opposition's campaign will be hampered by internal power struggle and realignments.

Milinkevich has chosen an effective method – the happy mean between participation and non-participation.

However, he can overshadow local candidates, whereas the pro-democratic forces need to consolidate their positions in the provinces by establishing local leaders.