Viktar Ivashkevich: amendments to Electoral Code are disguise for West

Amendments to the electoral legislation will not affect the course of electoral campaigns, the politician is confident.

The secretary of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Mikalai Lazavik has recently said the amendments to the Electoral Code regarding campaigning and boycotting would be proposed. It will be forbidden to use government funds to call for a boycott. But it seems to be wrong to ban calling for a boycott, the CEC secretary thinks.

“The acting law allows calling for a boycott, but the police arrested those calling to boycott the 'elections' regardless whether they were using the government funds or their own money,” Viktar Ivashkevich, one of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition, told charter97.org.

According to the politician, the authorities do not fulfill laws, so amendments to the legislation have no sense: “The authorities do not observe all these laws. They act in accordance with political expedience and orders of high-ranking officials. These amendments to the legislation do not add anything, but do not deprive it of anything.”

The CEC suggests that NGOs should propose their candidates on equal conditions with labor collectives and political parties. Viktar Ivashkevich thinks the novelty will not change anything: “Some candidates were proposed in compliance with the acting legislation. They observe all laws, but the authorities didn't register them in result. They registered only the candidates they wanted. The situation will not change. They can introduce any amendments, but they will do whatever they want. The amendments don't indicate a tendency to liberalization, they are just a disguise to show liberal reforms to the western diplomats. The dictatorship is illegal even in accordance with its laws. Law is an enemy of an official. It will continue while this system exists. No amendments can change anything.”