None of the opposition candidates won a seat in the Belarussian parliament. The elections in Belarus were not free or democratic, say commentators. Protesters in Minsk agree.
Peter Gentle reports
The Belarussian Central Election commission announced that the leader of the United Civic Party Anatol Lyabedzka got under 10% of votes. Social democratic and communist leaders Igor Rynkiewicz and Sergey Kaliakin got 15% each. Independent candidate Ales Mikhalevich was supported by 14% of the voters and Olga Kazulin, daughter of former political prisoner Aleksandr Kazulin won only 9%. Similar results were announced for other opposition candidates, who are not surprised. They have no doubt they were doomed from the start.
Polish Law and Justice MP Paweł Kowal says that the results could have been predicted before the voting, as many opposition candidates were deprived of the possibility to run in the race: 'The opposition could not register their candidates in many places. The total number of those registered was about seventy. So even, if the opposition got 100% of the vote, they would not be able to fill the one hundred and ten places in parliament.'
According to Kowal, forgeries took place not at the stage of voting, but of counting votes, which was suspiciously short and was not verified by anyone. In some districts, the voting took under an hour, Kowal pointed out. Paweł Kowal was in the team of Polish OSCE observers. They witnessed extraordinary actions, says Kowal: 'Something stunning was happening in front of our eyes. The process of counting votes was underway, in which nobody could verify anything. Several committee members were counting at the same time, shuffling piles of papers, pushing away even the internal observers. When we came back to the hotel, it turned out that all observers had exactly the same experiences.'
Belarussian authorities announced the turnout at the polls was around 75-80%. Analysts of the opposition disagree. They say it was under 50% which makes the elections not valid.
Several hundred people protested against the abuses in Minsk. They called for new elections. Among them was opposition leader Aleksandr Milinkievich: 'I want people to have more information, more truth. I want them to have less fear - this above all. I never thought and I don't think today that these elections are true elections.'
Interior Minister called the rally a serious breach of law and said the police documented the event for the purpose of prosecution of organizers and participants.
Opposition leader and former presidential candidate Aleksandr Kazulin, recently released from prison, told Polish Radio that Belarussians should reflect on whether any elections did take place in Belarus.
The West had too much hope in these elections and it was a mistake to treat them as a test of democracy, because Aleksandr Lukashenko will never be a Democrat, says Agnieszka Romaszewska - Guzy, head of the Bielsat TV and TVP Polonia: 'We want the regime to be less repressive and the country to be a little more open. And the fact that the elections will not be free for the time being... what can we do? This is first of all the question of the political situation in Belarus. And secondly, it is up to Belarussians themselves. We are not able to bring democracy there.'
According to Romaszewska Guzy, it was Russia which forced Aleksandr Lukashenko to slightly open to the West recently. That was because the Belarussian dictator realized that Moscow may want to take direct control over his country, according to this commentator.
It is up to the citizens of Belarus if they will become a democratic society, opposition leader Aleksandr Milinkievich said in an interview for Polish Radio, and the main task of the opposition now is not the fight with the regime, but over people's minds. Right now people are in apathy and don't believe change is possible, he said. 'For me, the fight is not with the regime (although I don't want the regime, I want freedom). The fight is over people's minds. Today we are supported by one third of society. If we manage to make it over a half of society, everything will be ok with Belarus. And this is a mundane everyday work: information, education, analysis and so on. People should see that there is a wise alternative, which can offer something they like,' said Aleksandr Milinkievich, leader of the Belarussian opposition.