[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 44 (Thursday, April 1, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H1794]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              RECOGNITION OF UPCOMING ELECTIONS IN BELARUS

  (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to the 
upcoming elections in Belarus.
  While most of the former Eastern Bloc countries have demonstrated 
varying degrees of democratic progress since the Soviet collapse, 
Belarus has slipped back into a Soviet Union-style dictatorship. 
Belarus's current President, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, was elected in 
July, 1994. The country's political and economic repression intensified 
in 1996 when President Lukashenka orchestrated passage of a 
constitutional referendum that provided him control over all of the 
branches of government and society as a whole. The President then 
disbanded the parliament, and only those members loyal to him chose to 
serve in the new legislature. He extended his term of office to 2001, 
and the 2001 election lacked transparency and democratic 
administration.
  In response to the repressive political environment, we need to focus 
our efforts on helping to promote an institutional survival of the 
country's democratic political organizations and helping their leaders 
and activists prepare for political and public policy roles in a future 
democratic Belarus.
  The important thing for the current regime in Belarus to understand 
is that Washington and the world are watching.

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