Anatol Liabedzka: Authorities won't hold fair elections

The leader of the United Civil Party (UCP), Anatol Liabedzka, is sure that no elections in their traditional meaning will be held in Belarus.

“It will be a political campaign titled the elections. I am confident that this year won't be a walk in the botanical garden among fragrant roses for Lukashenka. It will be a hard year, a year of the economic and financial dead end, which has been caused by the authorities. It is a serious factor that will have an impact on the actions of both the authorities and supporters of changes,” the politician told BelaPAN.

According to him, “the number of people disappointed in the course of the authorities is larger than those satisfied by the actions of Lukashenka, the government and the National Bank”. “The financial and economic crisis will play an important role. It will raise the questions to which the authorities cannot answer,” Liabedzka thinks.

The probability that an alternative candidate can win is very high if fair elections are carried out. But the authorities will not hold fair elections, the UCP leader thinks. He says that repression will become more brutal. “Repression may become more severe and brutal against certain people and institutions, but their number may decline. This is the price Lukashenka is going to pay the West for the normalisation of relations and attempts to get any political, economic and financial support,” Liabedzka thinks.