Belaya Rus: A new party of power for president’s son?
Trying to find out more about this organization, the European Radio for Belarus called Mikhail Batura, the head of the Minsk city branch of the Belaya Rus and the rector of the Belarusian IT and Radio-electronics University.
“The organization aims to foster the unity of progressive forces in order to achieve economic and social stability in this country and to promote dynamic development in order to render grassroots support to the government,” Batura said.
All of the population layers are represented in the organization, according to Batura.
“There are creative intelligentsia, academicians, professors, MPs, workers, industry managers…”, he noted.
Alexander Medved, the internationally renowned wrestler and the deputy president of the National Olympic Committee, also joined the ranks of the organization. He shared with the European Radio for Belarus that all the Belarusian athletes would soon enter this organization as well.
“Some athletes have just visited me. All of them want to join. I told them: “Wait! It is only me so far.” But many have already filed their applications. For instance, our girls that went for a European tournament said that they would join this organization on their return,” Medved said.
Possibly, Alexander Medved will repeat the way of the Russian wrestler Alexander Karelin who became a Russian lawmaker on behalf of the pro-government part “United Russia”. However, Mr Medved refused to comment on this question.
Presently, Belaya Rus is positioning itself as a purely public association, not as a political party. Nevertheless, official political commentator Yury Shevtsov is confident that Belaya Rus will enter Belarus’s politics.
“A presidential political party is being founded for the parliamentary elections to make sure that it will have an absolute domination at the House of Representatives after the 2008 polls. Then, we should expect changes in the Constitution to give more powers to the parliament at the cost of the presidential powers,” Shevtsov suggests.
Why does powerful Lukashenka need such a party? In the view of Alexander Feduta, a political commentator, the head of the state needs this party in order to control his power through party structures, not only through law-enforcement agencies.
“The party is to resemble the communist party of the Soviet times, when it was a huge source of human resources. It is clear that president’s son will also join the party. In the future parliament, Victor Lukashenka will lead the largest pro-presidential faction,” Feduta said.
Political expert Victor Martinovich is confident that Belaya Rus has nothing to do with politics, in principle.
“The Belarusian politics are structured in such a way that there is simply no need for this element of the political system. The president is the party of power. The president substitutes all the politics with himself in this country. This system is built in this way. We do not need new personalities. That’s why I think there are those rumors that Belaya Rus could be headed by the son of the incumbent,” Martsinovich said.
He continues that money is a true incentive behind the aims of the organization.
“A certain group at power is willing to receive access to huge budget resources allocated for similar organizations. The example of the BRSM (Belarusian Republican Youth Union) demonstrated to some officials that have access to the running of the country that launching a new pro-government organization is the most efficient way of processing budget resources. This is exactly what is taking place in the case of Belaya Rus,” he said.
Expert Yury Chavusau agrees with this viewpoint.
“This is a BRSM for adults. Naturally, they will take part in elections. But I don’t think that it will resemble a political party,” he said.
Mr Chavusau maintains that the representatives of the United Pro-Democracy Forces believe that Belaya Rus is a step towards transition to a proportional voting system ahead of the upcoming elections.
“I can’t say whether lawmakers or the president have any plans in this regard. As far as I know we should not expect any innovations,” said Mikalaj Lazavik, the secretary of the Central Elections Commission.
It is still unclear what Belaya Rus is going to look like. But it is very likely that all workers will be asked to join the ranks of this organization. The successful experience of BRSM will hardly remain unnoticed.
