Politics of Belarus: Encyclopedia II - Politics of Belarus - Political parties and elections

Politics of Belarus - Political parties and elections

• Belarusian Labour Party (Belaruskaya Partya Pratsy)
• Belarusian Popular Front (Narodni Front Belarusi)
• Belarusian Social Democratic Party-Assembly (Satsyal-Demokratuchnaya Partya Belarusi - Hramada)
• Party of Communists of Belarus (Partya Kamunistov Belaruskaya)
• United Civic Party of Belarus (Abyadnanaya Gramadzyanskaya Partya Belarusi)

• Republic (Respublika)
• Young Belarus (Maladaya Belarus)
• European Coalition Free Belarus (Eurapeyskaya Kaalitsya Svabodnaya Belarus)
• Belarusian Social Democratic Party - People's Assembly (Satsyal-Demokratychnaya Partya Belarusi - Nardonaya Hramada)
• Belarusian Women's Party Hope (Belaruskaya Partya Zhanchyn Nadzeya)

These elections fell according to the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission [1] significantly short of OSCE commitments. Universal principles and constitutionally guaranteed rights of expression, association and assembly were seriously challenged, calling into question the Belarusian authorities’ willingness to respect the concept of political competition on a basis of equal treatment. According to this mission principles of an inclusive democratic process, whereby citizens have the right to seek political office without discrimination, candidates to present their views without obstruction, and voters to learn about them and discuss them freely, were largely ignored.

Politics of Belarus - Developments since 1993

Stanislaw Shushkyevich observed at the beginning of 1993 that almost 60 percent of Belarusians did not support any political party, only 3.9 percent of the electorate backed the communist party, and only 3.8 percent favored the BPF. The influence of other parties was much lower.

The Communist Party of Belarus (CPB), part of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), claimed to rule the Belorussian SSR in the name of the proletariat for the entire duration of the republic's existence. For most of this period, it sought to control all aspects of government and society and to infuse political, economic, and social policies with the correct ideological content. By the late 1980s, however, the party watched as Mikhail S. Gorbachev attempted to withdraw the CPSU from day-to-day economic affairs.

After the CPB was banned in the wake of the August 1991 coup d'état, Belarusian communists regrouped and renamed themselves the Party of Communists of Belarus (PCB), which became the umbrella organization for Belarus's communist parties and pro-Russian groups. The PCB was formally registered in December 1991. The Supreme Soviet lifted the ban on the CPB in February 1993.

The most active and visible of the opposition political groups in Belarus in the first half of the 1990s was the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), founded in October 1989 with Zyanon Paznyak as chairman. The BPF declared itself a movement open to any individual or party, including communists, provided that those who joined shared its basic goal of a fully independent and democratic Belarus. The BPF's critics, however, claimed that it was indeed a party, pointing out the movement's goal of seeking political power, having a "shadow cabinet," and being engaged in parliamentary politics.

The United Democratic Party of Belarus was founded in November 1990 and was the first political party in independent Belarus other than the communist party. Its membership is composed of technical intelligentsia, professionals, workers, and peasants. It seeks an independent Belarus, democracy, freedom of ethnic expression, and a market economy.

The Belarusian Social Democratic Assembly (Hramada) emerged in March 1991. Its members include workers, peasants, students, military personnel, and urban and rural intelligentsia. Its program advocates an independent Belarus, which does not rule out membership in the CIS, and a market economy with state regulation of certain sectors. The assembly cooperates with other parties and considers itself part of the worldwide social democratic movement.

The Belarusian Peasant Party, founded in February 1991, is headquartered in Minsk and has branches in most voblastsi. The party's goals include privatization of land, a free market, a democratic government, and support of Belarusian culture and humanism.

The Belarusian Christian Democratic Union, founded in June 1991, was a continuation of the Belarusian Christian-Democratic Party, which was disbanded by the Polish authorities in western Belarus in the 1930s. Its membership consists mainly of the intelligentsia, and it espouses Christian values, nonviolence, pluralism, private property, and peaceful relations among ethnic groups.

The "Belaya Rus'" Slavic Council was founded in June 1992 as a conservative Russophile group that defends Russian interests in all spheres of social life, vociferously objects to the status of Belarusian as the republic's sole official language, and demands equal status for the Russian language.

In 1995 other parties included the Belarusian Ecological Party, the National Democratic Party of Belarus, the Party of People's Accord, the All-Belarusian Party of Popular Unity and Accord, the Belarusian United Agrarian Democratic Party, the Belarusian Scientific Industrial Congress, the Belarusian Green Party, the Belarusian Humanitarian Party, the Belarusian Party of Labor, the Belarusian Party of Labor and Justice, the Belarusian Socialist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus, the Polish Democratic Union, and the Republican Party.

Politics of Belarus - November 1996 referendum and constitutional changes

Since his election in July 1994 to a 5-year term as Belarus's first President Alexsandr Lukashenko has consolidated power steadily. He used a November 1996 referendum to amend the 1994 Constitution in order to broaden his powers and illegally extend his term in office. The new constitution has a popularly elected president who serves a 5-year term. The bicameral parliament consists of the 64-seat Council of the Republic and the 110-seat Chamber of Representatives. The president appoints the prime minister, who is the head of government. Administratively, the country is divided into six regions (provinces) or "voblasts."

Politics of Belarus - Elections of 2000 and 2001

In October 2000, parliamentary elections occurred for the first time since the referendum of 1996. According to OSCE/ODIHR, these elections failed to meet international standards for democratic elections. Lukashenko announced early in 2001 that presidential elections would be held. Western monitors made charges of nondemocratic practices throughout the election period, including charges vote counting fraud. These charges of irregularities led the OSCE/ODIHR to find that these elections also failed to meet Belarus' OSCE commitments for democratic elections. Although it was considered to be "puppet" parliament of Lukashenko, eventually there appeared dissenting voices, notably the parliamentary group "Respublika" (Valery Fralou, Uladzimir Parfianovich, Siarhiej Skrabiec).

Politics of Belarus - Elections of 2004

Reports in Western media from the October 17, 2004 election stated that the state pro-Lukashenko TV channels on election day transmitted pro-Lukashenko propaganda and polls already at midday - even though Byelorussian law prohibits this. Observers from the opposition parties were arrested. Mikhail Marinich, the leader of the opposition, is also currently in jail. Independent observers called the election a fraud.

Politics of Belarus - Referendum of 2004

In a referendum in 2004, a constitutional amendment lifted the restriction on the number of terms for president. Lukashenko claimed about 76% voter support for this referendum while results were denounced by opponents as fraudulent.

Previously, Lukashenko had been limited to two terms and thus would have been constitutionally required to step down after the next presidential election, due in 2006, but this referendum opened the way to him to stay in power without any limits on number of terms. In October 2005 Lukashenko confirmed that he's going to run again in 2006, "unless people will tell me: Lukashenko, you must stop." The prospective candidate from the united opposition that is likely to be the main rival of Lukashenko in 2006 is Alexander Milinkevich.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Political parties and elections", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki