Belarus Election- 08.10.2001

 

Update: Belarus Presidential Election

 

The Belarusian presidential election will be held on September 9^th, 2001. A run-off election will be held if no candidate wins 50 percent of the vote. The election date was announced June 7^th, 2001, and 22 out of 25 applications for potential candidates were approved. In order to register as a presidential candidate, each potential candidate must have obtained at least 100,000 signatures between June 20 and July 21.

In 1996 Aleksandr Lukashenko, elected President in July 1994, used a questionable referendum to extend his term beyond the original 1999 limit until 2001 – a move which was not recognized by the international community. If the new election is determined to meet international standards, the result will probably be recognized by Western governments.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has encountered government resistance in its attempts to improve election guidelines and train local election observers. The European Union (EU) and the U.S. Government both support the OSCE’s work, and the EU has indicated its desire to expand relations with Belarus if the election is free and fair.   Efforts are still underway to secure the participation of OSCE observers.

Most foreign media outlets consider the Belarusian government a dictatorship, but opinions vary on the transparency of the Belarusian presidential election.

Although the Lukashenko regime does not openly condone anti-Semitism, members of Lukashenko’s inner circle have engaged in public anti-Semitic appeals. The government has also declined to speak out against the 1999 book War According to the Law of Abominations, a collection of anti-Semitic tracts including the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which the Belarusian courts have determined has redeeming scientific value. Regular television programs provide a forum for claims that Righteous Gentiles did Belarus a disservice by rescuing Jews from the Holocaust, and charges that Jewish community leaders are disloyal to Belarus. One Member of Parliament, Sergei Kasyan, has offered copies of War According To the Law of Abominations to all of his fellow legislators.

OSCE

On March 7^th, the Parliamentary Troika – a group composed of the European Parliament, Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe, and the OSCE – issued four criteria for a free and fair election: (1) the transparent and democratic registration of candidates, composition of electoral commissions, and count of votes; (2) equal access to all media for all candidates; (3) no harassment of candidates, their relatives or their supporters by the authorities; (4) freedom for all engaged in domestic election-observing, recruitment and training to complete their work and cooperate with international institutions. The Parliamentary Troika applied the same criteria to the October 2000 Belarus parliamentary elections, which it deemed neither free nor fair.

In April, Leonid Yerin, Chief of the Belarusian Committee for State Security, accused international aid groups of attempting to recruit spies by supplying aid for the training of domestic electoral observers. The OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group (AMG) refutes these accusations, stating that the training courses are standard OSCE practice during elections and did not meet resistance when they were organized for Belarusian local and parliamentary elections in 1999 and 2000. The AMG expresses concern at a government-funded public campaign to undermine the integrity of the AMG in Belarus. Lukashenko has repeatedly accused the OSCE of funding and controlling the opposition, charges which the OSCE has denied.

On July 18^th, the OSCE called on the Belarusian authorities to invite independent electoral observers for the September 9^th election. On the same day, Belarus Television reported that observers from the Association of the Organizers of Elections in Central and East European Countries, an organization not connected with the OSCE, had already arrived in Belarus.

On August 6, the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR) issued a statement criticizing the Belarusian government’s obstruction of an OSCE election observation mission. Belarus has issued invitations to observers from a number of countries and international organizations, excluding the OSCE, which is unprecedented for the former Soviet Union.

European Union


The European Union (EU) views the election as a way for Belarus to improve relations with the international community if the process is free and democratic under OSCE guidelines. It also emphasizes that, under Belarusian law, Belarusian citizens have the right to participate in domestic election observation without government restrictions. On June 28, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced that it will stop all loans to Belarus if the election does not meet democratic standards.

United States

The U.S. Government considers President Lukashenko’s legal term to have expired in July 1999. Shortly after the 1996 presidential referendum in Belarus, due to increasing human rights abuses, a lack of market reform and a weakening of democratic institutions, Washington suspended all U.S. Government-funded assistance to Belarusian state institutions and banned U.S. visits by Belarusian government officials at the deputy-minister level and above. American investors are also formally advised to avoid doing business in Belarus.

The U.S. Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission) supports the OSCE Troika criteria for the presidential election and the AMG’s work in assisting Belarusian democratic development. The Commission has urged the Belarusian government to cooperate with the OSCE in forming a network of non-partisan election observers, and to cease intimidation of potential opposition candidates, political parties, and NGOs.

The Commission has also condemned the lack of freedom of assembly and speech in Belarus. Co-Chairman Christoper H. Smith (R-NJ) wrote a letter to President Bush on July 18^th outlining the above CSCE concerns. He also mentioned the lack of representation by opposition parties and NGOs on the regional electoral commissions.

The U.S. State Department issued a statement on August 3 condemning the seizure of American computer equipment by Belarusian authorities. The equipment was being used by an NGO and an independent newspaper.

On August 9, the Helsinki Commission warned that it is “becoming increasingly concerned about the pre-election climate” in Belarus. The Commission urged the Lukashenko government to allow ODIHR representatives to observe the election.

The State Department issued a statement on August 10 condemning the Belarusian government’s continued refusal to issue an invitation to OSCE election observers, and stating that the Belarusian government has thus far violated all of the provisions set forth by the OSCE in 2000 for open and fair elections. The statement reiterated the U.S. condemnation of the Belarusian authorities’ seizure of American computer equipment from an NGO and independent newspaper.

International Media

Moscow Times

A June 21^st Moscow Times editorial criticized the United States for seeking a fair and democratic Belarus presidential election in September. The editorial cited many reasons for characterizing the election as corrupt, including the short time period (three weeks) allotted for candidates’ campaigns.

Russia Journal

In 1994, then-Prime Minister Vyacheslav Kebich held the same control as Lukashenko over the media, parliament and bureaucracy, and Kebich lost re-election. In an editorial from The Russia Journal’s June 15 issue, editor Vladmir Kozlov stated that such an upset can also happen to Lukashenko. Russian leadership has the power to influence the election by supporting a candidate, financing a candidate’s campaign, or reporting on the election. If Lukashenko is elected, he will mainly support Russia, but any other president will support both Russia and West.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Regional Electoral Commissions

On July 27^th, ten Belarusian opposition parties sent a memorandum to all potential presidential candidates, foreign embassies in Minsk, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, claiming the regional electoral commissions were formed in an illegal manner to include only Lukashenko’s supporters and demanding the formation of new regional electoral commissions.

On August 6, 2001, RFE/RL expanded its broadcasts to Belarus. President Lukashenko responded on August 9 that the expansion represents “an extremely unfriendly step with regard to Belarus.”

Candidate Procedure

On June 26^th, Lukashenko announced that all candidates and their close relatives must submit income and property records in order for the candidate to register. The electoral commission can deny a candidate registration if these documents have any misstatement “of an essential character.” On July 2, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) condemned the new declaration requirement on the grounds that it contradicts the Belarusian constitution and legislation.

On July 23, four opposition politicians withdrew from the presidential race and threw their support to Uladzimir Hancharyk, the head of the Trade Union Federation of Belarus, to form a broad coalition of democratic and opposition forces against Lukashenko.

Acccording to preliminary data from July 23, only four candidates out of 22 -- Lukashenko, Uladzimir Hancharyk, Syamyon Domash, and Syarhey Haydukevich – were able to collect the 100,000 signatures required for approval as candidates in the election.

On July 30, Leonyd Sinytsyn and Yury Dankou – formerly prospective candidates for the presidential race -- alleged fraud in the government’s handling of candidate registration. Leonyd Sinytsyn, the former head of President Lukashenko’s administration, claimed that tens of thousands of signatures he gathered in the Brest and Mogilyov regions were not recorded by the Election Commission.

Government Interference and Other Actions

On June 18^th, two former investigators of the Belarusian Federal Prosecutor’s office, Dzmintry Petrushkevich and Aleh Sluchak, were granted political asylum in the United States. The two men have accused top Belarusian officials of organizing a death squad responsible for the deaths of about 30 people, including two former Lukashenko opposition figures, Yury Zakharanka and Viktar Hanchar. The Prosecutor-General’s Office has stated that no charges will be brought against Petrushkevich and Sluchak, as such a move would bring “additional publicity to our former, immoral coworkers.”

On July 13^th, Hancharyk presented a photocopied document implicating high-level Belarusian law enforcement officials in the murders of opposition figures and journalists. Hancharyk also sent the documents to Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking Putin to use his influence in favor of the opposition in the upcoming presidential election.

On June 21, President Lukashenko charged Russian television networks with providing biased coverage of the political situation in Belarus, and threatened post-election retaliation against unfriendly media. Earlier in the month, Lukashenko shut down four Russian TV channels for a day because Russian ORT-TV aired a program featuring four of his presidential challengers.

The Belarusian police arrested three journalists of the independent newspaper Volny horad in Krychau, Mahileu Oblast, during a July 12^th raid on the office. The police also confiscated computers and publications and sealed the office. The office is located in the same building as the local campaign staff headquarters of presidential challenger Syamyon Domash.

Following a 21 July speech to workers by President Lukashenko in which Lukashenko urged the workers to vote for him, a local election observer filed a complaint with the Central Election Commission (CEC) that Lukashenko was engaging in early campaigning – a violation of election law. The CEC responded on July 30 that Lukashenko’s speech was not a campaign speech.

Lukashenko stated at a July 31 press conference that he will use force in the event of attempts to “depose” him or “question election results.” He predicted that he will win 90 percent of the vote. Opposition leaders issued a signed statement on August 1 stating that “the incumbent president made it clear he will not give up power under any circumstances.”

According to an August 3 statement by the Belarusian Ministry of Justice, the publishing of information about unregistered political parties or organizations will be considered a criminal offence. Belapan reported on the same day that teachers in the town of Radna, Hrodna region, were being asked to state their voting preference in order to receive their vacation allowances. A source for RFE/RL reported that the same practice prevails at other schools and in some factories in the region.

Opinion Polls

According to a Belapan report on August 7, polls indicate that if the election were held now, Lukashenko would get about one-third of the vote. In a three-way race with leading opposition candidate Uladzimir Hancharyk and Suarhey Haidukevich – leader of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party – Lukashenko would win 29 percent, Hancharyk 27 percent, and Haidukevich 9 percent. If the race were expanded to include Syamyon Domash, Lukashenko would receive 27 percent, Hancharyk 20 percent, Domash 14 percent, and Haidukevich about eight percent.

 

Additional information and updates will be available online at www.ncsj.org.

-- Prepared by NCSJ Intern Liz Dudley