More opposition candidates pull out :: Charter'97 :: News

Several opposition candidates running in the local elections in the Mogilyov region have withdrawn from the race, citing fears that the elections will be rigged.

In Bobruisk, two members of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party "Hramada," Taisiya Kobanchuk and Nadezhda Grinevitskaya, pulled out.

In an interview with BelaPAN, Ms. Kobanchuk said that a recent issue of the local newspaper Vecherny Bobruisk and a statement by Aleksandr Lukashenko that the 2006 presidential election had been rigged, in favor of rival candidates, had contributed to her decision.

"In the number 95 issue of the Vecherny Bobruisk, Mikhail Kovalevich, deputy chairman of the city executive committee, said that the opposition had no chance of winning a seat on the city soviet. We do not want to run in the elections when it is known in advance who will be members of the soviet and when all power belongs to the president`s government, not the local soviet."

In Mogilyov, three opposition candidates bowed out. Those were Dmitry Solovyov, a member of the Belarusian Popular Front, and trade union activists Aleksandr Korolyov and Vladimir Tuzov.
"I was denied a meeting voters and that was the last straw," Mr. Solovyov commented to BelaPAN. "The elections fall short of democratic standards and run counter to the constitution and the Electoral Code."

The outcome of the poll is "predetermined," Mr. Korolyov commented.