BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

18/12/2008

Belarus Opposition Party Wins Official Recognition

MINSK, Belarus (AFP)--The opposition party of one-time Belarus presidential candidate Alexander Milinkevich has finally been registered by the authorities and granted legal recognition, it said.

"I consider this a logical decision as there has never been a reason not to register us," Milinkevich's deputy Yuras Gubarevich said in a statement late Wednesday.

His movement Za Svobodu (For Freedom) had over the last two years made four requests to be registered with the Belarussian authorities but without any success, the statement said.

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has ruled the ex-Soviet republic of 10 million people in an authoritarian fashion since 1994, keeping in place a Soviet-style command economy.

However, he has recently made attempts at greater openess. That included the hiring of a top Western public-relations firm and the country is also cautiously encouraging greater foreign investment.

Milinkevich was awarded the European Union's top human rights award, the Sakharov prize, after losing the 2006 presidential election to Lukashenko. He has frequently complained of harassment by the authorities.

The U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has dubbed Lukashenko's regime "Europe's last dictatorship", but the E.U. lifted a travel ban on the president and some of his associates in October.

Source:

http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/belarus-opposition-party-wins-official-recognition-584568

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