BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

Jan 26 2006

Belarusian opposition leader expects street protests if presidential vote is rigged

STRASBOURG, France (AP) - Belarusian opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich said Thursday he faced major obstacles while campaigning for March presidential elections.

He also predicted that Belarusians would take to the streets to protest if the vote appeared to be rigged.

"Every time we travel to regions to speak to people there's of course the KGB, the militia," Milinkevich told The Associated Press before taking part in a debate on Belarus at the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights watchdog.

"We're not allowed to go to schools, hospitals, factories," he added.

The opposition in Belarus, an isolated former Soviet republic, has been facing mounting pressure before the March 19 presidential elections in which hardline President Alexander Lukashenko is seeking to extend his rule.

Belarus is the only European country that is not a member of the Council of Europe, the guardian of the European Convention on Human Rights, because critics say it does not fulfill basic requirements, including rule of law, respect for human rights and the existence of democratic structures.

Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 10 million with an iron hand for more than a decade, stifling dissent and persecuting independent media and opposition parties.

He also has boosted his authority through a series of elections and referenda that international organizations say were marred by fraud. Several opposition leaders are imprisoned on what critics say were trumped-up charges.

Milinkevich said he was trying to mobilize support among ordinary citizens and change the mind-set of Belarusians. He said success in the election will be possible only if the central election committee counts the votes honestly.

"We want the people to understand that our victory would be their victory. If the election is conducted in an unconstitutional way people will hit the streets to defend their rights," Milinkevich said.

But he said he wanted the regime changed on the basis of election results, not the sort of mass protests that brought reformist President Viktor Yushchenko to power in neighboring Ukraine a year ago.

"We're against revolution," Milinkevich said.

In a speech to the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly - an advisory body comprising 315 parliamentarians and senators from the organization's 46 member states - Milinkevich said he dreams of one day seeing an "open and free" Belarus.

"Today there is no democracy in Belarus," Milinkevich said. "This a society which is deadlocked, paralyzed by fear."

He added that Belarus does not have radio and TV stations free of government control and a free press has virtually disappeared.

Last year, the EU's executive commission has signed a one-year contract with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle to air daily, 15-minute news radio and Internet programs to Belarus.

On Thursday, the Commission said broadcasting of independent news to Belarus on a bigger scale will start in February. The -2 million (US$ 2.4 million) program will include broadcasts in Russian and Belarusian.

Belarus' beleaguered opposition has united around Milinkevich as its candidate for challenging Lukashenko.

Best known as the founder of the country's largest network of non-governmental organizations, Milinkevich, 58, was educated as a physicist. He served briefly as deputy mayor of his hometown of Grodno, western Belarus, in the early 1990s.

Source:

http://www.kyivpost.com/bn/23769/

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