PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 106th CONGRESS, 2nd SESSION
Vol. 146
Washington, Friday, October 13, 2000
No. 128
House of Representatives
FLAWED ELECTIONS IN BELARUS
Thursday, October 12, 2000
HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH of New Jersey
Mr. Speaker, this Sunday, October 15th, Belarus will hold parliamentary elections. Based
on the run-up to the elections, the possibility of free and fair elections simply does not exist. Belarusian strongman
Alyaksandr Lukashenka--who illegally extended his own term in office--is once again attempting to dupe the
international community into believing that there are viable electoral processes in today's Belarus. The reality is different.
The Lukashenka regime has not met any of the four conditions that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe set back last spring--namely, a democratic election law, an end to human rights abuses, access by the opposition
to the state media, and genuine powers granted to the parliament. As a result, on August 30, the OSCE and other
institutions decided not to send a full-fledged international observation team to Belarus. This decision could have been
revisited if the situation in Belarus had improved. However, since August 30, the Lukashenka regime has denied
registration to many opposition candidates on highly questionable grounds; detained, fined, or beaten over 100
individuals advocating a boycott of the elections; burglarized the headquarters of an opposition party; and confiscated
100,000 copies of an independent newspaper. My friend, opposition leader Anatoly Lebedka was physically assaulted
during a commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of opposition leader Viktor Gonchar and his
associate Anatoly Krasovsky. I might add that another leader of the opposition, former Interior Minister Yuri
Zakharenka, remains missing after having disappeared 17 months ago, and two leading opposition members, Andrei
Klimov and Vladimir Koudinov, remain imprisoned on politically motivated charges.
Mr. Speaker, governmental interference in the election process appears to be rampant. There are reports that regional
and local government executive committees have been threatened to ensure that government supported candidates will
be elected. The registration process also showed strong signs of arbitrariness, with the rejection of a large percentage of
candidates, especially opposition candidates. According to today's Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty East-Central
Europe Report, Belarusian authorities--in an attempt to counter the opposition's call for an election boycott--have begun
urging early voting and even threatening reprisals if voters fail to go to the polls. Furthermore, in Brest, the
government-controlled local press is publishing election materials devoted solely to one candidate. All of these and other
incidents, Mr. Speaker, have contributed to an atmosphere highly obtrusive to free and fair elections.
Given the pre-election atmosphere, the international community will be hard-pressed to recognize the new parliament,
which succeeds the old, Lukashenka hand-picked parliament that was not recognized by the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly and much of the international community. Moreover, the current election environment does not in any way
inspire confidence that the presidential elections scheduled for next year will be democratic. Mr. Lukashenka would do
well to keep in mind that, with the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, he becomes increasingly isolated as Europe's sole
remaining dictator.
