31 July 2007
Opposition coalition working on parliamentary campaign, leader of United Civic Party says
The Political Council of Pro-democratic Forces is working on its campaign for the next parliamentary campaign scheduled for 2008, Anatol Lyabedzka, leader of the United Civic Party, told BelaPAN.
The Council is co-chaired by the leaders of three major opposition political parties and the acting head of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party "Hramada" who replaced former presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich as a single leader of the opposition coalition as a result of the second Congress of Pro-democratic Forces held this past May.
Mr. Lyabedzka said that every party had started preparing for the parliamentary campaign.
He emphasized the need for the coalition to distribute tasks and responsibility between its members to ensure that all understood who was in charge of what.
He also said that it was important for all parliamentary candidates representing the coalition to use one message to voters during the campaign.
"If the elections are called as required by law it will mean that we have started preparations in good time. This may give the pro-democratic forces several points. However, we do not rule out the possibility of the elections being called for the beginning of 2008. But anyway, the preparations began in time," Mr. Lyabedzka said.
Earlier this month, the Political Council of Pro-democratic Forces adopted the principles of participation in the next parliamentary elections scheduled for the fall of 2008.
The Council decided that the member organizations of the coalition and their nominees should launch their campaigns on September 1 and should press for amendments to the Electoral Code, inform voters about violations of their rights and try to encourage them to defend their rights. Candidates for the House of Representatives would be nominated on a "one district-one candidate" basis.
The opposition coalition unites the United Civic Party, the Belarusian Popular Front, the Belarusian Party of Communists, the Belarusian Women's Party "Nadzeya," the Belarusian Social Democratic Hramada, the Belarusian Social Democratic Party "Hramada," as well as the organizing committees for the Belarusian Social Democratic Party "Narodnaya Hramada," the Belarusian Party of Labor and the For Freedom organization. It also includes the Belarusian Environmental Party of Greens that is facing closure.
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