Belarusian polling stations opened Tuesday for early voters eager to cast their ballots for Sunday`s presidential vote, a closely watched election that the opposition fears will be rigged in favor of the authoritarian incumbent.

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Today ay Polish-Belarusian border, at Kuznitsa border crossing, an action in support of the single democratic presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich has started.

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The group of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in the European Parliament has expressed its "deep concern" about the ongoing presidential race in Belarus.

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Presidential candidate Aleksandr Kozulin has asked Valentin Sukalo, chairman of the Supreme Court, to meet with him.

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Activists of the “Union for Democracy Support in Belarus” have put up a tent by the Belarusian Embassy in Warsaw. The activists express their solidarity with the fighting nation of Belarus in this way. Participants of the action distribute informational materials on situation in Belarus. National Belarusian white-red-white flags, flags of Belarusian youth resistance movement Zubr, and jeans flags are seen over the tents. Picketing of the Embassy is to continue until the presidential elections on March 19. The action is called “Week of solidarity with Belarus”, and it had started with a concert on March 13 in Warsaw , attended by thousands of people.

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About 6 thousand people gathered at the Central Stadium of Homel to meet with the candidate for presidency Alyaksandr Milinkevich. People met Alyaksandr Milinkevich with applause and shouts “A New Presdient!”, “Freedom!” They were holding streamers with words: “Milinkevich!”, “Freedom! Truth! Justice!”

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An alternative to the Belarusian president at the upcoming elections have become a realistic one, believes Kiryl Koktysh, an associate professor of political theory chair of Moscow Institute of International Relations. Ni his interview to a “Polit.ru” correspondent Koktysh underlined that taking in consideration indirect data, for today opposition candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich has an equal number of supporters with Lukashenka, and it is not excluded that he even leads. Te actions of the Belarusian authorities, that had banned meetings of Milinkevich with voters, greatly limited opportunities of the opposition to use media, speak for that. Such actions of the Belarusian authorities demonstrate that they see a credible threat from the side of the united opposition.

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A poll of the portal TUT.BY was placed at forums in the night of March 13. The question was: “Whom will you support in the elections of March 19?” More than 300 viewers have taken part in the poll. The single democratic presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich has been chosen by 80% of viewers, the “Nasha Niva” informs.

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A new Ambassador of Russia to Belarus Alexandr Surikov, despite of the outrageous violations of all electoral norms, assesses the level of democracy in Belarus as a “normal one”. The diplomat said so on March 14 at a press conference in Minsk. The head of the CIS observers’ mission, an executive secretary of the CIS Vladimir Rushajlo cynically stated in Mahilyou today that the preparation to the presidential elections and the frist day of early voting ni Mahilyou region are taking place in a “calm, businesslike atmosphere”.

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“On March 19 will we come out to the Kastychnitskaya Square with a peaceful demonstration to say “no” to falsifications. We do not want to live in lawlessness, boorishness and humiliation. We want to live in compliance with the law and Constitution”, - Alyaxandr Milinkevich, the united democratic forces candidate, declared at the meeting with voters of Mazyr (Gomel region). More than 500 Maryz dwellers came to the meeting with the democratic candidate.

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Hardly had Aleksandr Surikov, the new ambassador of Russia - the country presiding in the G8 - to Belarus, turned to his duties, when he embarked on agitating for the dictator. He declared today at a pres-conference held in Minsk that “estimating the outcome of the election, journalists should keep to the point of view of those who have voted”.

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The newspaper “SB. Belorussiya siegodnia”, the official institution of the President’s administration, printed out a huge special edition dedicated to Aliaxandar Lukashenka. Not less than 3 mln issues of the newspaper have been published and distributed among all “Belpochta” kiosks.

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A candidate for presidency, former rector of the Belarusian State University Alyaksandr Kazulin told to the radio station Echo Moskvy the names of people who had beaten up the members of his team and journalists on March 2 in front of the palace Of Culture of Railway Workers, when Kazulin tried to register as a delegate of the so-called “All-Belarusian Assembly? It is known that the commander of SWAT Dzmitry Paulichenka was beating up Kazulin. Paulichenka is suspected in implication in abductions and assassinations of the Belarusian opposition leaders and a journalist. Names of the other criminals have not been known before.

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After famous Belarusian rock groups performed in support of the single democratic presidential candidate, Alyaksandr Milinkevich, a well-known pop group “Kraski” declared its support to Alyaksandr Milinkevich as well. The following statement has been published on the official site of the group: “We have experienced firsthand what Lukashenka regime look is. We had been forced to escape first to Germany, then to Russia, and later to the USA. But the reality is harsher, than we thought. We pin all our hopes only on you and our common victory!”

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On March 13 participants of the international action “Can I have Rights?’ who protest against human rights violation sin Belarus, arrived to Warsaw. The action was organized by the Amnesty International. Poles, Germans, Dutch and others have taken part in the action.

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The current presidential campaign in Belarus has become a kind of teaching aid for the Union of Right Forces of Russia (SPS), how the democratic opposition can use communicative opportunities of the process of elections as such to get the message across to voters in the conditions of information vacuum.

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Waves of detentions, administrative and criminal cases, home searches youth activists of Belarus are facing every day, demonstrate weakness and panic of the authorities. Lukashenka had never feared the elections before. One of the reasons for the regime’s frenzy is young activists of the Young Front, Zubr and other youth organizations which are saying “Fed Up With him!” about the dictator every day.

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“People must rise from their knees. I am absolutely confident of the victory and that on March 20 the Belarusians are to wake up in a new country,” the candidate for presidency, former BSU rector Alyaksandr Kazulin said in an interview to Echo Moskvy radio. The candidate has urged the Belarusians to gather on March 19 at 8 p.m. on October (Kastrychnitskaya) Square in Minsk, to sum up the real results of the presidential elections. As said by Kazulin, independent polls show that his rating is from 25 to 30%. “If we join with Milinekvich, it is obvious that we get more than 60%. Lukashenka already in more than 40 % a priori,” the former rector believes. The candidate also noted that “it does not matter who would be the president, Kazulin or Milinkevich. It is important to prevent Lukashenka from becoming a president”.

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According to the principal author of this analysis, the Minsk-based Centre for Political Education, it might be too late for the democratic forces of Belarus to win the elections on March 19, but a new political movement capable of becoming an alternative to President Alexander Lukashenka has, nevertheless, been developed. Thus, the elections might be the first step towards a change of regime.

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On March 13 a measure of restraint for the son of murdered journalist Veranika Charkasava, Anton Filimonau, was changed. Instead of taking into custody, he is out on bail. Yesterday evening Anton returned home from the pre-trial detention centre number 1 in Minsk, Valadarsky Street.

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Activists of the “Union For Democracy Support in Belarus” have put up a tent in front of the Belarusian Embassy in Warsaw. In this way the activists of the organization express their solidarity with the people of Belarus fighting for freedom. The number of tents is to grow. Participants of the protest distribute informational materials on situation in Belarus. National white-red-white flags and jeans flags are unfurled over the tents. Picketing of the Embassy is to continue until the presidential elections on March 19. The action is called “A Week of Solidarity with Belarus”, and it has started with a concert of solidarity held on March 12 in the centre of Warsaw, attended by many thousands of people.

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A group of Georgian parliamentarians, representatives of the ruling party “National Movement”, despite of the official refusal of the Belarusian authorities, is going to leave for Minsk to take part in monitoring over the presidential elections. “We were denied entry to Belarus and warned that we might have problems in the airport of Minsk, but still we are going to come, and by creating problems to us, the Belarusian authorities would create a serious problem to themselves,” told the Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Defence and national Security Givi Targamadze to journalists on Tuesday.

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Agitation pickets in support of united democratic forces candidate for the President’s post Alyaxandr Milinkevich are to be held today in Minsk mostly near student hostels and enterprises. Election campaign activists intend not only to agitate for the candidate, but also to urge Minsk dwellers to refrain from the pre-term voting since this is a tool of falsification of the election outcome, as head of the Minsk city election headquarters of the democratic candidate Valiantsina Paliavikova told the Charter’97 press-center.

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Ukrainian writer, active participant of the Orange revolution Oksana Zabuzhko addressed the Belarusian nation before the election:

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Two protest manifestations have taken place today in Vilnius in front of the building of the Belarusian Embassy to Lithuania. One of the actions was organized by the Ligue of Conservative Youth of Lithuania at the moment that three Lithuanian deputies were handing over an appeal against repressions of the election campaign to the Belarusian Embassy. Belarusian students who passed their appeal to the Belarusian Foreign Minister held the other action.

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Kyiv condemned the arrests of six Ukrainians during Sunday`s opposition rally in Minsk and the brief detention of a Channel 5 correspondent.

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The Czech foreign ministry has said that arrests and harassment of opposition activists in Belarus have raised doubt that this week`s presidential election will be democratic, free and fair.

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The Administration of George Bush has warned the Belarusian government about readiness to use “restrictive measures” in case the upcoming presidential elections on March 19 would not meet the international standards, reads the statement of the Spokesman of the US Department of State Tom Casey, distributed in Washington.

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