Lazavik: "Haven’t we done enough to change the legislation?!"
Euroradio has found out what changes of the legislation the opposition would like see and how the Central Election Committee reacts to it.
The Election Code will not be changed before the parliamentary election of 2012. The state leader expressed “the desire” during his meeting with CEC chairperson Lidziya Yarmoshyna.
The leader of the Belarusian Liberal-Democratic Party Syarhei Haidukevich says that his 110 people will take part in the election although they are sure that they will not become deputes. According to the politician, “There are 110 officials in the House and there will be 100 officials again”.
Syarhei Haidukevich: “It is necessary to introduce the party system, the proportional representation system. It will allow the civil community to develop. However, we do not have it. Should we blame the law for it? There should be an election system. You should take part in elections and know that you have a chance to compete and win. But the system has not changed – what do you expect from the election? There are 110 officials in the House of Representatives and there will be 110 officials, that’s it!”
Valyantsina Leanenka, secretary of the Central Committee of the CPB and member of the House of Representatives, says that the Election Code should not be changed a year before the election. There is little time left. She is against the Party-list proportional representation system because she thinks that deputies’ personal responsibility disappears because of it. She thinks that the demands of representatives of the democratic forces are groundless.
Valyantsina Leanenka: “If they present party lists with enough people to cover all the constituencies, then they will be allowed to send people there! But they cannot find enough people! The problem is not about political parties - this is a problem of their mythical and phantom ideas that the authorities create obstacles to them”.
However, the governmental association “Belaya Rus” says that only its leader Alyaksandr Radzkou can comment on the issue. Deputy head of “Belaya Rus” Syarhei Piharau says that the leader is ill now and cannot comment on anything.
Leader of the United Civil Party Anatol Lyabedzka has a lot of ideas on how to change the Election Code.
Anatol Lyabedzka: “Those who take part in election campaigns should be guaranteed the right of inclusion of their representatives in election commissions – the commissions that count votes. Secondly, the poll system should be transparent. Commission members and observers should be able to see the names of candidates this or that elector voted for. Furthermore, the early voting practice should either be abolished or strictly regulated”.
Ryhor Kastysyou, deputy head of the BPF Party, demands the same things. However, Kastusyou says that nobody believed that the party-list system would be introduced.
Ryhor Kastysyou: “We did not expect them to introduce the party-list election system. So there is nothing new about it. However, even the old election system should become transparent - it is essential”.
Leader of the campaign “Tell the Truth!” Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu says that it does not matter whether there will be party lists or not.
Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu: “What will party lists change if everything remains as it is?! They can simply tell you that no members of your party have been elected! The system does not matter if there are no real elections – the elections you can trust”.
CEC secretary Mikalai Lazavik thinks that everything that was necessary was done last year – absolute freedom.
Mikalai Lazavik: “Haven’t we done enough to change the legislation?! There were excellent changes of the Election Code in 2010! The law-enforcement practice was ideal – not a single human rights activist could find a reason to complain that somebody had not been allowed to organize a picket or a meeting. There was absolute freedom of agitation and meetings with electors!”
At the same time Mikalai Lazavik does not exclude that some changes may be made before the elections.
Almost all opposition representatives used to claim that there was not sense taking part in the elections without changes of the Election Code. However, they are taking their time before announcing a boycott now.
