Boycott of parliamentary election: about 10 pickets, 15 videos and leaflets
Euroradio watched how actively different parties and movement boycott the election.
"We went for it, we worked, we collected the same dozens of thousands of signatures, but the output was not very high, if we talk about efficiency. Our mandates were handed out to the pro-authoritative candidates and we basically had nothing apart some moral satisfaction, support from the community, in the end", - leader of the United Civil Party Anatol Lyabedzka recalls his experience in the last parliamentary elections.
This year, Lyabedzka’s party boycotts the parliamentary election. Instead of candidates, they nominated speakers who will go to people and tell them the truth about the events in the country. Pickets are also planned in the framework of the campaign. However, an attempt to hold them at the stage of collecting signatures ended unsuccessfully – all applications were declined.
"This time, we applied for 115 pickets all over the country under the slogan" For Fair Elections without Lukashenka "and all applications were declined. It was clear what to expect from this electoral campaign. "
An attempt to hold an illegal picket ended with a fine for 5 million roubles for the party's activists.
Activists of the Belarusian Christian Democracy, which is also boycotting the election, held a dozen pickets. Then they started having problems with the authorities. It turns out, that it is a violation of the law to call on people to boycott the election. It was therefore decided to focus on other forms of activity. In particular - making videos. Dzyanis Sadouski says they have made about 15 of them.
"This month we filmed about 15 video appeals of famous people on the boycott theme. People there expressed their attitude to elections and to boycott. "
There are famous people in the videos, like Iryna Khalip, Nasta Palazhanka, Vital Rymasheuski. The only thing which is actually sad is the number of views - from 40 to 1500.
Member of the Steering Committee of the "Belarusian movement" Vintsuk Vyachorka says that the activists are campaigning to boycott the elections mainly through leaflets. The organization believes that you can achieve your goals by providing information. They did not nominate candidates or hold pickets. Vyachorka is convinced that there are much more supporters of boycott at the 2012 elections than in the previous campaigns.
"Of course, there are much more. This is due to the changes in the public mood. More and more people realize that institutions such as the parliament or elections in our state are fake. "
We'll see on August 22 whether the UCP speakers will be registered as candidates. Until then, the activity of boycott is limited to a dozen of pickets, videos on YouTube and leaflets.
