Local Elections Undemocratic Says BPF :: Charter'97 :: News

BPF Party calls on the international organizations and governments of the democratic countries to deny recognition to the March 2 local elections in Belarus as free and just, reads the statement of the BPF, voiced by the party’s leader Vintsuk Vyachorka at his meeting with journalists in Minsk. The statement was provoked, according to him, by numerous violations, which occurred in course of the electoral campaigns at the registration stage.

BelaPAN quotes Vyachorka as saying that out of their 201 nominated fellowmen only 112 managed to pass registration as candidates. 40 party representatives were denied registration, while 49 withdrew from the race under the threat of dismissal from job. Among the unregistered there are such prominent public figures as Yuri Khodyko, Boris Zheliba and Ales Ostrovsky, director of the Humanitarian Lyceum Vladimir Kolos, regional leaders of the party Sergei Malchik, Ales Dergachev, Sergei Govsha.

According to Vyachorka, despite the elections’ undemocratic nature, BPF will continue running for the seats in the campaign, using it to propagandize democratic values and reinforce party’s structures.