BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

12/01/2007

Opposition largely boycotting Belarus local polls

By Andrei Makhovsky

Reuters

MINSK (Reuters) - Belarus holds local elections on Sunday but the opposition is largely boycotting the vote because it sees no chance of loosening President Alexander Lukashenko's iron grip on the ex-Soviet state.

Voters will elect 22,000 deputies to local councils across this country of 10 million people but the opposition has fielded only around 200 candidates.

"Many people did not want to become candidates because they understood the authorities would not allow them to win. They saw no sense in this campaign," said Pavel Mozheiko, spokesman for Belarus' main opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich.

Since 1994 when Lukashenko took power, Belarus has not held a single election judged as free and fair by international observers.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has branded Belarus "the last dictatorship in Europe" and the EU has imposed travel bans and asset freezes on Lukashenko and his top officials.

Several opposition parties have boycotted Sunday's polls completely, dubbing them a "farce."

"The formal result of these elections is absolutely predictable. The authorities will give their candidates as many votes as required," Vintsuk Vechorko, the leader of opposition Belarussian Popular Front, told Reuters.

Belarus has relied heavily on neighbouring Russia for political and economic support but the once-close relationship has broken down in a row over energy prices and tariffs in recent weeks, further distracting voters' attention from the local elections.

"Candidates are campaigning very inertly. Political parties have in fact either ignored or overslept this election campaign," Nikolai Lazovik, Secretary of the Central Election Commission, told Reuters.

The trade dispute peaked this week when Russia halted oil supplies to Belarus, closing a major pipeline exporting oil to Europe in protest at a new Belarussian oil tax. Belarus gave in after four days and agreed to scrap the tax.

State television in Belarus has been running regular advertisements reminding voters about the polls on Sunday and explaining how to vote. But not all will participate.

"I have not noticed our candidate made any effort to win our votes," said Irina, 34, a housewife. "I do not even know how many candidates there are in our district. I doubt I will go to the polls."

Source:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/12/AR2007011200933.html

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