The Belarusian authorities arbitrarily detained and abused hundreds of people following a rally protesting President Aliaksandr Lukashenka's re-election on December 19, 2010, and have since carried out a campaign to stifle civil society and free expression across the country, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.читать дальше »
RU BY CON. Belarusian Future in Europe: Prospects and Challenges conference was held in Tallinn on January 14-15. The experts who gathered together in Estonian capital analyzed the first 20 years of Belarus’ independence, gave their opinions on current situation, and discussed the ways Belarus can transform itself into a democratic country.читать дальше »
The intensified confrontation between Minsk and Kremlin officials together with unprecedented activity of the united Europe in the “Belarusian direction” put Belarus’ bilateral relations with other countries into shadow. Yet, in present circumstances, their significance is rapidly growing. читать дальше »
Besides securing victory for president Lukashenko in the actual election campaign, Belaya Rus (BR) is also pursuing other goals. The organization members are both gaining experience in political campaigns and mastering different propaganda and communication methods, which will allow to transform Belaya Rus into a political party.читать дальше »
Independent studies of public opinion in Belarus for many years have revealed the exact and typical structure of electorate of the incumbent president. Alexander Lukashenka is the president of pensioners, women and villages. His electorate is concentrated among undereducated, declassed levels of population. The ideology and the policy of the state, fixed in a well-known slogan "bread and circuses", catered directly for this kind of electorate.читать дальше »
Candidates for presidency in Belarus, who have started pre-election race, try to overcome the atmosphere of hopelessness which used to reign during the previous election campaigns.читать дальше »
One of the high points of the ongoing presidential campaign is the decision of the leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP), Sergei Gaidukevich, to pull out of the presidential race. According to some analysts, this resulted in an unprecedented situation in Belarus, enabling candidates to boycott the election. Let us examine the points one by one.читать дальше »
This year the pre-election period abounds in visits of ranking guests from abroad. Hardly had the Lithuanian president departed, when German and Polish foreign ministers arrived. The ministers Westerwelle and Sikorski's clear goals for the visit were of no secret: to talk Lukashenko into conducting the open election in exchange for the promise to provide help in reforms.читать дальше »
The Belarusian parliament on September 14 set a date for the next Belarusian presidential election and thus clarified the domestic political agenda for the three months to come. Most of the Belarusians will cast their votes for the next head of state on December 19, 2010.читать дальше »
During these few weeks prior to the fourth Belarusian presidential election the media have yet again been issuing declarations that keys to the Belarusian presidency are in the Kremlin or that in Belarus there is no winning without support from the Kremlin.читать дальше »