Popular Front, For Freedom and Social Democrats quit People's Referendum

The Party of Belarusian Popular Front, Movement for Freedom and Belarusian Social Democratic Party have withdrawn from the People's Referendum campaign, according to the joint statement for the press.

"We would like to state with great regret that our jointly built potential was misused by one of the partners for the sake of achieving its own tactical purposes, which are far away from the original goals. As a result, society's trust in the People's Referendum campaign was undermined. It also undermined trust between the People's Referendum member organizations", says the statement signed by Aliaksei Yanukevich (Popular Front), Yuras Hubarevich (Movement for Freedom), Iryna Veshtard (Belarusian Social Democratic Party).

Commenting to Euroradio, Hubarevich confirmed the break-up of the People's Referendum campaign was caused by the activities of the Tell the Truth campaign, especially during the recent presidential elections. In particular, Hubarevich voiced claims against the ex-presidential candidate Tacciana Karatkevich:

Hubarevich: "She was not empowered to say she represented a coalition formed around the People's Referendum campaign. She was not nominated by People's Referendum, because apart from Tell the Truth and Popular Front, which later recalled its decision, none of others had taken such a decision."

The members of People's Referendum have not coordinated between each other for three months, says Hubarevich. The campaign itself existed for two years. Today's statement is deliberately made ahead of the parliamentary elections in Belarus in order to prevent anyone from using the People's Referendum name.