August 30 US Charge d’Affaires Douglas A. Davidson spoke to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, encouraging OSCE PA to continue its observation initiative in Belarus and providing a general outline of the overall pre-election situation in Belarus. Read further the transcript of the report:

---

The International League for Human Rights, an international non-governmental human rights organization with consultative status at ECOSOC UN, addressed Lukashenko to express their indignation over the two recent warnings to Viasna human rights center. Read further the transcript of the letter:

---

OSCE mission in Belarus condemns local authorities for their biased coverage of the election campaign. Head of the mission Mr.Balian said that 60% of all air time on the state-run Belarusian TV is dedicated to exclusively Alexander Lukashenko. Materials on other candidates are of openly negative character. As you remember, yesterday there started preliminary voting in the country, although the agitation period isn’t completed yet.

---

Information on the parallel vote count program was collected by the civil initiative “Independent Observation” from 5,89% of all Belarusian precinct stations. The stations were selected according to their sociological composition and equally represent all country’s regions. On the first day of pre-voting 3,5% people cast their votes. The data, received by observers from the electoral commission members do not seriously differ from their personal calculations. The difference is well below a hundredth of one percent.

---

In course of the first day of early voting in Minsk region 2,3% of all voters cast their ballots. The highest turnout was registered in Slutsk district constituency – 6,3%. Such a large percentage of voters is understandable – the local authorities are pressuring people to vote beforehand. For instance, chair of the Dzerjinsk district committee Tkachov obliged his workers to vote ahead of schedule. Same happened in “Luch” collective farm of Kopyl district, presided by Usin Alexander Nikolaevich.

---

Staff member of one of the overseas diplomatic missions of Belarus Mr.Midovets, who previously worked in the central apparatus of the Ministry of foreign affairs in Minsk, addressed today Charter’97 press-center. Midovets stated that the authorities are plotting a massive falsification of vote results of citizens that are dwelling outside the country. FM and foreign offices set up a system of rigging the ballot, held outside the territory of Belarus.

---

Police placed arrest on the September 5 issue of the independent “Narodnaya Volya”. Acting director of “Magic” publishing house – deputy chair of the State Committee for Press Vladimir Glushakov – forbade to print the newspaper with a front-page election collage “Lukashenko is past, Goncharik is future”. The ban was lifted not until the collage got urgently replaced by the announcement of “hot line” with the candidate Goncharik.

---

Pre-election passions in Belarus are heating up every day. Opposition holds rally after rally. On Tuesday it staged an unsanctioned action opposite the president’s residence. Around 50 activists of the Belarusian opposition, including UCP leader Anatoly Lebedko and one of BPF coordinators Vyacheslav Sivchik lined up along the Skarina prospect of Minsk raising portraits of the missing political figures. At the forthcoming presidential elections in Belarus, the major challenger of Alexander Lukashenko will be the unique candidate from the democratic forces of Belarus Vladimir Goncharik. Today the politician answers “Izvestia’s” questions:

---

The observers have already settled in Minsk. The Belarusian Parliament enjoyed the status of the special representative with the PACE since 1992. However, 5 years later, following a controversial 1996 referendum and enforced dismantling of the legitimate Supreme Soviet, Belarus deprived herself of the status and the procedure of Belarus aligning with the Council of Europe had come to a standstill. However, the Parliamentary Assembly determined to maintain contacts with diverse political forces of Belarus, in order to help promote democratic transformations in the country.

---

According to the members of Vladimir Goncharik’s pre-election headquarters, which assembled for a meeting on September 4, chances are that the unique candidate will celebrate a convincing victory. Social surveys manifest the permanent growth of rating of the unique candidate. Meantime, the authorities seek to rig the results of the poll, inciting the citizens to engage in pre-voting. However, if the number of early voters amounts to 30-40%, there’ll be every ground to consider the ballot falsified, as far as all polls show that no more than 8-10% voters are planning to go for preliminary voting.

---

September 4 the residents of Belarus witnessed another pre-election show, which gravely violated the existing legislation. The state-run meeting between the candidate for the president Alexander Lukashenko and his voters, hosted in the Republic’s Palace, was televised across the country. Odd to say, that the rest of the nominees have no such possibility at all.

---

Lukashenko’s agitators and electioneers are committing one blunder after another. According to rough estimations, over the past week they managed to reduce the incumbent’s low rating by another 10-15%. First they lost all officers and soldiers by showing them major Lukashenko in theatrical uniform and general’s shoulder-straps. Then they televised Lukashenko’s visit to the disastrous Belarus-Ukraine soccer World Cup Qualifier, followed by the absolutely nightmarish documentary “One day with the president”, where Lukashenko said weird stuff, breakfasted with grapefruits, terribly played accordion and frightened his own granddaughter. But today Lukashenko suffered yet a more crushing blow from his official mouthpiece “Sovietskaya Belorussiya”. The paper alleges that some forces are successfully implementing a “White Stork” plan in Belarus, which will imminently result in toppling of Lukashenko.

---

With the candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus Vladimir Goncharik
On September 5, at 4.30-5.30p.m. Vladimir Goncharik will visit the editorial office of “Narodnaya Volya” newspaper and answer the readers’ questions.
Feel free to call!
Phone number of the “Hot Line” – 206-68-71
You may also e-mail your questions to silich@tut.by or send them via fax 206-69-04

---

Ahead of the presidential elections of September 9 the chairwoman of the based abroad Belarusian National Republic’s Council Ivonka Survilla addressed her like-minded compatriots from Belarus. The lady underscored that today the Belarusians have a unique opportunity to choose an alternative to the existing regime, which, she said, is annihilating material and spiritual resources of Belarus and isolates her from the civilized world.

---

Belarusian opposition may ensure “decent alternative, challenging the authoritarian regime”, - said OSCE AMG chairperson Hans-Georg Wieck in an article, published Sept. 4 by the “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” of Russia. According to Wieck, although Belarusian state TV, radio and press are openly supportive of the incumbent – “this imaginary “beloved son of the country”, who is in reality just a former collective farm chair and officer of the frontier KGB contingent,” – nobody can say for sure what the final result of the ballot will be. Wieck believes that the major root-causes of opposition’s ultimate unification, which revitalized her, were “decadence and dictatorship” – two words, which most correctly depict the situation in Belarus.

---

On Tuesday Alexander Lukashenko said that Colin Powell “perhaps never read” his own address on the occasion of Belarusian elections, circulated a few days ago. The text of the statement reads that Belarus is gradually transforming into a rogue state, whereas the American government calls into question the transparency of Belarusian ballot. According to Lukashenko, the real author of the document is Michael Kozak – US ambassador in Belarus: “It has been concocted by the US embassy. The address of the so-called Powell, who never read it himself, had been prepared by Kozak in his Minsk residence. 10 days before its publication it was delivered to me by the Russian and Belarusian intelligence.”

---

On Monday, which marked another Day of Thanksgiving, the US ambassador in Minsk Michael Kozak and whole of the embassy personnel didn’t work. So it came as a total surprise for them when the ambassador became main hero of the British “Times” article, followed by newscasts on Russian NTV and Belarusian “Panorama”. Moscow correspondent of Times Alice Lagnado – a person of leftist convictions, claiming that USA are implementing same imperialistic policy in Belarus as once in Latin America – published September 3 an article under heading “USA are applying the “policy of contras” in pro-communist Belarus.”

---

Activists from ZUBR and Youth Front started on September 4 their campaign on monitoring the course of the early voting. Youth Front leader Pavel Severinets stressed at his September 4 press-conference in Minsk that mass falsifications may occur during the pre-voting. “We know that students will be forced to engage in early voting, followed by the intended forfeit of election results,” – stated Severinets.

---