BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

Feb 16 2006

Belarus opposition candidate says election won't be free, appeals to Russia

MOSCOW (AP) - Belarus' main opposition presidential candidate said Thursday that next month's presidential election will not be democratic and he urged Russia to drop what he called its shortsighted policy of support for the nation's authoritarian leader.

Alexander Milinkevich also warned that violence could break out following the March 19 vote, saying that President Alexander Lukashenko's determination to stay in power and widespread doubts about the legitimacy of the election could make for a volatile mix.

"The election will not be free, it already is not free," Milinkevich said. He cited repressive state actions, almost nonexistent opposition representation on electoral committees and restrictions on observers as indications the vote will fall short of democratic standards.

Most of the opposition has united around Milinkevich as its candidate to challenge Lukashenko, who has ruled the ex-Soviet republic with an iron hand since 1994. He has quashed dissent and maintaining his grip on power through votes dismissed as illegitimate by his opponents and Western governments that have dubbed him Europe's last dictator.

"The strength of the regime is not that it is loved, but that it is a regime of repression," Milinkevich told a Moscow news conference.

He said the Belarusian government has created a crooked playing field for the vote, including by placing only one representative of the opposition coalition among 74,000 members of local election commissions that will count the votes cast in the nation of 10 million.

"This is where the falsifications occur," Milinkevich said.

The government has also adopted a policy that will prevent both domestic and foreign observers from monitoring the counting process, he said, making the observation process "more symbolic than real."

Other opposition leaders told the news conference that government tactics included arresting opponents and warning people they would lose their jobs if they campaigned for the opposition.

In Moscow, as during recent visits to Western nations that are eager for political change in Belarus, Milinkevich stressed that he opposes violent upheaval but also warned that bitter Belarusians may take to the streets if they believe the election is rigged.

With Lukashenko vowing not to permit the kind of protests that broke out in the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan after disputed ballots and helped bring opposition leaders to power, Milinkevich called the situation ahead the election "alarming."

"We do not want revolution, but people may come out into the streets," he said.

Milinkevich also said he wanted to dispel what he called a "lie" promoted by Lukashenko that the Belarusian opposition is anti-Russian and he pledged to build "better relations with Russia than exist today" if he is elected.

He said Lukashenko remains in power "largely thanks to the strong support of Russia" and that Moscow's backing would undermine relations in the long run.

With other neighbors like Ukraine and the Baltics states turning Westward, the Kremlin is wary of the election in Belarus. President Vladimir Putin recently said he believes the vote could be democratic, and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told Western counterparts Lukashenko is sure to win on the basis of popularity.

Source:

http://www.kyivpost.com/bn/23895/