Statkevich: “Elections” Should End In Mass Protest Rally

It is demanded by the entire Belarusian society now.

It has been said in an interview by one of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition, a presidential candidate in the elections – 2010 Mikalai Statkevich.

– To your mind, will the “parliamentary elections” in autumn differ from the previous ones, which had been recognized undemocratic by the OSCE?

– No moves to bring what is called “elections” in our country, to the real electoral process, have been made by the authorities. It is obvious that another farce, “kabuki theatre”, is being prepared, where everything: actions of each actor, every gesture and the final result -- are pre-planned.

We still do not know what results would be “whipped up” by them, and who is to play the role of quasi-opposition inside the “parliament,” but it is obvious that there are going to be no “elections.”

– What should be the strategy of the democratic opposition under the circumstances?

– In this situation actions of the democratic forces should be the following.

Firstly: we should unite. In this context it is advisable to have one democratic candidate per constituency, who is to collect votes of all pro-democracy voters, and to make the authorities perform obvious rigging of the results.

Secondly: there is no point in elaborating positive election programmes, as long as “president” Lukashenka is in power, no positive changes are possible. People understand that there are no “elections” as such, and the “parliament” has no influence at all.

And now, when the country is crisis-hit, criticism of the authorities is to resonate with the people well. That is why democratic candidates must attack, slash the main person responsible for the country’s being in the crisis and deadlock.

And thirdly: it is extremely important how the campaign is to end, how decently we are going to finish it. The most logical variant is a mass protest rally. If everything is to happen as we expect once again, if an electoral fraud is to happen again, democratic leaders would simply have to react.

If people respect themselves – there should be a public protest rally. And the entire Belarusian society is waiting for that from us, and is to pay attention to that for sure. As when one is insulted, some laughable figures are written – people who respect themselves should react.

All the more so, as in the conditions of escalating social tensions a protest rally could cause large-scale participation, and really influence the situation.

I remind that last year none of the so-called “alternative candidates for presidency” called upon people to participate in protest rallies. As a result, the ODIHR OSCE mission noted that as a “positive factor,” and it was one of the reasons why the West lifted the sanctions against the authorities. As when people do not protest, it appears that everything had passed “alright.”

These three things are the most important in the autumn campaign: the single list of oppositional candidates, harsh criticism of the authorities and a mass protest rally.