Babruisk: state-owned mass media agitate for Lukashenka
The state-owned mass
media of Babruisk are keeping to the tactic of silence during the present
electoral campaign and publish only general information on elections. The only exception
is the mouthpiece of the Babruisk Town Executive Committee Babruiskaye Zhyttsio, which dedicatedly promotes just one
candidate, the incumbent Lukashenka.
For instance, in the article There Are No
People Indifferent To The Fate of The Country (published in #96, dated 1
December, in the column Election-2010)
Aliaksandr Tsimafeyeu writes about the plenum of the town organization of the
Belarusian civil association of veterans.
The author begins by saying that ‘...
some people turn the opportunity to deliver to thepeople their election programs
in a regular show and some of the contenders for the highest office are trying
to find the answer to the question of how to make our lives better’ - and still
does not explain who is who. Instead
of it, he returns to the plenum and the speeches by the Chairperson of the
ideological department of the Babruisk Town Executive Committee Yury
Sebrukovich, the Chairperson of the municipal organization of the Belarusian
Union of Officers Aliaksandr Vinahradau and the Chairperson of the veterans'
organizations Halina Malikava, all of whom urged residents of Babruisk to cast their
votes for President Aliaksandr Lukashenka’, after which the plenum decided to
support him at the upcoming election.
The district newspaper Trybuna uses its webpage for publishing the
articles of the state information agency BelTA
that characterize the incumbent president as a caring and just ruler. It also quotes the Chairperson of the Babruisk District Council of
Deputies Leanid Barkouski who ‘pointed out the fact that at present we already
have confidence in the future welfare of the people’, and ‘advised residents of
the village council to take an active part in the future election, and
unanimously vote for our future’.
The local electronic media also
ignore the opposition candidates, with the exception of the independent portal
babruisk.by. Despite the fact that the presidential candidate
Vital Rymasheuski has had two electoral meetings in Babruisk already, the
website of the Babruisk Town Executive Committee published only information
about a picket in support of A.Lukashenka held by representatives of the ‘state
NGOs’ Belaya Rus and Belarusian
Republican Youth Union.
Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections
