In an interview with Belsat TV Anatol Lyabedzka, the leader of the United Civic Party of Belarus (UCPB) and a former political prisoner, revealed the party’s assessment of the elections to the House of Representatives.
On September 11, the 2016 parliamentary election took place in Belarus. Two opposition candidates – Alena Anisim (Belarusian Language Society) and Hanna Kanapatskaya (UCPB) – got into the lower chamber of Belarus’ National Assembly.
“The fact that Hanna Kanapatskaya received the deputy mandate in no way affects our assessment of the recent election campaign. We believe that it is just the campaign, not elections. It does not meet the standards of the OSCE, the election is not free and not fair,” the politician told Belsat TV.
According to Anatol Lyabedzka, the newly-elected MP Kanapatskaya is on the same page.
“We know it for a fact that the regime took the decision to two opposition activists into parliament for some reason. We will think of what to do with it,” Lyabedzka said.
The chairman of the United Civic Party stressed that Hanna Kanapatskaya’s campaign was ‘very strong’.
“Kanapatskaya harshly criticized the current system and never flirted with the government,” he said.
However, the UCPB does not have reliable data on the number of votes for Konopatskaya, because its fellow party members were not admitted to the district election commissions.
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