[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 76 (Tuesday, May 9, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E961]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    BELARUS ON THE EVE OF ELECTIONS

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                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 9, 1995
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, May 14, Belarus will 
be holding its first parliamentary elections since the dissolution of 
the Soviet Union in 1991. Some 2,400 registered candidates are running 
for 240 seats. Concerns have been raised about actions of the 
Belarusian Government during the pre-election period. These concerns 
center primarily on restrictions on the press and the assault last 
month on 19 parliamentarians conducting a hunger strike in the 
parliamentary chambers. Nearly 100 paratroopers, armed with submachine 
guns or wearing black masks entered the parliament, accosted the 
parliamentarians, beat them and dragged them into the street. The 
parliamentarians were protesting President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's 
initiative to hold a referendum that they felt would violate the 
Belarusian Constitution.
  Restrictions on the press in Belarus, Mr. Speaker, also appear to be 
growing. On April 25, President Lukashenka fired the editor of a youth 
newspaper--the fourth editor of a nationwide newspaper he has fired 
since the Presidential election last July. Earlier, on March 17, 
Lukashenka dismissed the editor of the Belarusian parliament's daily 
Narodnaja Hazeta, for publishing a letter criticizing the President's 
pro-Russian policies. Critics are understandably distressed about this 
and other attempts to reign in the more independent voices within the 
state-subsidized press, especially since the independent press remains 
relatively weak. In addition, according to the newspaper Segodnya, the 
Belarusian media have refrained from reporting on the election campaign 
so as not to anger the President.
  Mr. Speaker, until recent months, Belarus appeared to be making slow 
but steady progress on human rights and democracy. Last year, Belarus 
held presidential elections that were generally free and fair, and Mr. 
Lukashenka defeated an entrenched incumbent by a large and unexpected 
margin. I have become increasingly concerned, though, about the 
apparent backsliding in the democratic process in this strategic 
country on the eve of parliamentary elections. It would be unfortunate 
if Mr. Lukashenka should turn around and use pressure tactics to hinder 
free and fair elections to the legislative branch. As Chairman of the 
Helsinki Commission, I urge the Belarusian Government to respect its 
international human rights commitments, but most importantly, respect 
its commitments to the people of Belarus through the guarantee of 
unhindered, open elections.


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