Andrei Sannikov: “Lukashenka does not have a right to go to the polls”

The Belarusian dictator violated the law and the Constitution repeatedly, he is suspected of involvement in abductions of his opponents.

A presidential aspirant in Belarus Andrei Sannikov has given an exclusive interview to the Russian service of Radio France Internationale (RFI).

- Mr Sannikov, you oppose registration of Lukashenka and say that he should not be entitled to stand for election as a candidate. Why?

- Yes, that’s true, as Lukashenka violated the law repeatedly, then he changed the Constitution as a result of the fabricated referendum, etc. And the last thing: after the latest election he confessed himself that he had ordered to rig the election results. Besides, he is a suspect in being involved in political abductions and assassinations in Belarus. How could he be viewed as a legitimate candidate? He does not have such a right under the law.

- You are not the only oppositional candidate in Belarus. There are rather many of them, about a dozen. Are you preparing any cooperation with them? Some unions? Not all will enter the final straight of the election! Oppositional votes could be dispersed by that.

- Undoubtedly, we are discussing a possibility to unite, to consolidate, but at the moment it is a positive factor, I believe. Candidates and their people have come to the people to collect signatures. They are carrying out a campaign for an alternative of Belarus’ development. It is normal, and later we will really talk about how to unite and join efforts.

- You stand for the European path. It means democracy, that is, competitiveness in the political struggle, free and transparent election, and respect to basic human rights. Looking from a distance, it seems that so far such appeals never changed the results of the Belarusian elections. Do you think this time something will be different?

- I think yes, as people have got tired of Lukashenka’s dictatorship. They see that the European road of development is not empty words, it is a real advantage. All our neighbours, who are in the united Europe today, live much better than people in Belarus. They have higher living standards, level of living. That is why, I think, today people are attracted by that much stronger than before. They have simply seen examples of normal development of a state, of Lithuania, Latvia, Poland. And it is also very important that Ukraine is also following this path now.

- And what are you going to do to improve the economic conditions of your fellow countrymen?

- You know, the path of European integration means modernization, economic changes. This administrative-command system has already has sucked the economy dry. Our enterprises are incredibly backward. We have a great number of backward collective farms. It is a serious load for the budget, as the budget subsidizes these collective farms.

Economy will be undoubtedly a priority, is a priority in our campaign. Entrepreneurship has been suffocated. It means that all the things that should promote development and flourishing of the state, are under the foot of the command system, which is controlled by one person, and are simply deprived of a possibility to develop. To give them freedom, to give them a possibility to develop, to support effective enterprises by the state, to assist restructuring, to modernize ineffective ones – all that would bring about a good result.

- Recently the relations between Russia and Belarus, to be more exact, between the Russian authorities and Lukashenka, started to deteriorate, and Russia is ready to influence the Belarusian elections, obviously against Lukashenka. Is such support needed, will it help or will is deter Belarusian voters? Is it right at all for someone to become a president of Belarus being supported by foreign authorities, which is, by the way, cannot be called absolutely democratic either?

- You know, the role of Russia today is really very important in this election. And I do not view that as an attempt to influence the result of the election. It is simply an evaluation of Lukashenka as an unreliable partner which as last has been vocalized. And what we hear today at Russian TV channels, from other sources is the truth which had been repeated by the opposition all the time. It is a real support, as we had not been able to advance resorting to international investigation of the cases of disappearances, political assassinations in Belarus, in particular because Russia blocked this issue in international organizations. Today we have a possibility to try to organize international investigation. It is extremely important for us, as they all are our colleagues, our friends, they are people who have paid the price for their position, for their dissent from the dictatorship.

By Yaroslav Gorbanevsky