Belarusian opposition to name single presidential candidate October 2 :: Charter'97 :: News

The unified Belarusian opposition will put forward a single candidate for the 2006 presidential elections on October 2, a Belarusian party leader told a news conference in the Russian capital on Wednesday. The Charter’97 press center is to cover the work of the Congress from the moment of its opening and until the single candidate would be elected.

Anatoly Lebedko, the chairman of the Unified Civil Party, said democratic activists from all over Belarus would elect the candidate from four potential contenders to run against incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko.

The potential presidential candidates are: former Belarusian Supreme Council chairman, Social Democrat Stanislav Shushkevich; Communist Party leader Sergei Kalyakin; Civil Party chairman Anatoly Lebedko; and Alexander Milinkevich, who is supported by the Belarusian Popular Front and the Green Party.

Lebedko said opposition parties had decided to unite in a coalition of democratic forces before the elections, to include ten parties, two youth organizations and over 200 associations.