‘Weddings’ of Belarusian opposition: Attempts to unite


When it came to the impeachment of president Alyaksandr Lukahenka, jokes were left aside. Just for the fun of the thing, Belsat.eu calculated how many attempts of creating unions the Belarusian opposition had made since 1996.

We were stirred into action by Anatol Lyabedzka, the leader of the United Civic Party of Belarus, who recently announced establishing a new coalition, a center-right one. In addition to the UCPB, the Belarusian Christian Democracy party, the Belarusian People’s Front and the movement ‘For Freedom’ are expected to join the coalition.

“Our history has not known something of this kind yet. We had different coalitions and platforms, but in terms of ideological approach, the center-right [politicians] have never pooled their efforts,” Lyabedzka said.

Indeed, such coalition never existed. But there was the center-left confederation ‘For Social Changes’ (2001) and the Coalition of Democratic centrists (2004). Thus, belsat.eu decided to figure up how many times the opposition had tried to unite. According to our estimates, there were at least eighteen attempts.

For the first time the process of uniting the opposition parties was initiated in 1996 under the auspices of the National Congress ‘In defense of democracy against dictatorship – then the impeachment of Alyaksandr Lukashenka was being prepared. Syamyon Sharetsky, the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the XIII convocation, contributed to it by gathering representatives of the five major parties: the United Civic Party, the Party of Communists of Belarus, the Agrarian Party, the Belarusian Social Democratic Party and the Belarusian People’s Front) at the secret meeting. The first three of them had their own factions in the Supeme Soviet..

Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the 13th convocation, from left to right: Henadz Karpenka, Syamion Sharetski, Vasil Novikau, Yury Malumau (November, 1996). Phot. by bymedia.net

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]After the impeachment plan failed, the Presidium backed by the EU tried to conclude an agreement with Lukashenka, demanding to resume the work of the Supreme Soviet. It did not work either. As a result, the EU limited contacts with the Belarusian authorities. In 1999, the Congress gathered once again – to prepare for the presidential election, in which former Prime Minister Mikhail Chyhir (UCPB) and Zyanon Pazniak (BPF) were running. The latter withdrew his candidacy, the presidential campaign collapsed and the party split into the Belarusian People’s Front and the Conservative Christian Party of the Belarusian People’s Front. But still, elections remained the reason for which the Congress continued to gather.

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]In so doing, the Coordinating Council of Democratic Forces was founded. In 2000, it decided to boycott the parliamentary election [to the Chamber of Representatives of the National Assembly]. However, only three parties (UCPB, BPF Party and the Conservative Christian Party BPF) resorted to the idea, but it was the most effective boycott in the history of the Belarusian opposition that covered 40% of polling stations. In the course of the 2001 presidential campaign the Coordinating Council of Democratic Forces was to put forward a single candidate.

But it was not the only association which set such a notable goal as the unification of the Belarusian opposition. See the picture below, place mouse over a name to view the structure of a coalition/association (in Belarusian):[vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]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[/vc_raw_html][vc_column_text]Inha Astrautsova, belsat.eu

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