[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 128 (Friday, October 13, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1774-E1775]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FLAWED ELECTIONS IN BELARUS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 12, 2000

  Mr. 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

[[Page E1775]]

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.

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