Opinion Polls Reveal Belarusians' Mistrust for Future Elections

A Slovak-Belarusian workgroup conducted an opinion poll on the attitudes of the Belarusian people to the current regime and possible mobilization of its opponents. The poll findings have revealed passiveness and indecisiveness, lack of trust for possibility of free and fair elections, reported Radio Liberty.
The joint group comprised representatives of the Slovak foundation "Pontsis", a sociological laboratory of Andrei Vardamatski and the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Investigations.
Before the 2006 presidential campaign the sociologists have concluded that in Belarus people do not perceive elections as a democratic instrument, they rather view it as a means used by the government to assure their future. Only 49% of the Belarusians questioned believe that the 2006 elections can be free and fair. Of the methods that could ensure fairness, the respondents prefer independent monitoring (37%) and parallel count of the votes (25%) to strikes and mass protests, as was the case during the orange revolution in Ukraine.