Statkievich suggested as a single candidate in presidential elections

It was the Tell the truth campaign that offered to put Mikola Statkevich forward as a single opposition candidate in the presidential elections of 2015. They said we have no elections, and it is unclear whether democrats will be able to decide on the single candidate. This way there will be a campaign in support of a decent person, explains the meaning of the proposition Andrey Dzmitrieu, deputy leader of Tell the Truth. 

Andrey Dzmitryieu: "The proposal is as follows: if you are really afraid that someone else, not you, will be the single candidate, when everyone says that the elections of 2015 cannot be won, let's all leave this place. Let us then make the moral case: tell the public about the existence of political prisoners in the country, that anyone can become a political prisoner today, tell them that this problem affects our economy. And when collecting signatures for Statkevich, we will make this a real moral campaign."

According to Dzmitryieu, this idea was proposed to all political parties, and they took the time until August 22 to think it over. 

Euroradio decided not to wait so long. As it turned out, it was with a good reason. Thus, the left party Fair World discussed this idea of Neklayeu party during the special Assembly meeting on August 13, said deputy chairman Valery Ukhnaliou. 

Valery Ukhnaliou: "We are against this decision, because, of course, the initiative group will not be registered, it will be impossible to carry out any campaign. And it's actually a boycott of the presidential campaign, we will not be able to work with the population. Our party believes that boycott of any elections is wrong. We have to choose the format of participation in the elections and to seek opportunities to work with the public during the campaign."

The same position is shared by the leader of the movement "For Freedom", Alyaksandr Milinkevich. However, he has other arguments for rejecting Statkievich as a single candidate. He says that appointing Statkevich the single candidate will only hurt the political prisoner, the entire opposition, and even ... Europe! 

Alyaksandr Milinkevich: "It looks decent, but the result will be a negative outlook for the opposition, for the Democrats, for Europe and for Mikola himself. After all, if Mikola is chosen a single candidate, it will destroy even a theoretical chance of his parole. In addition, it will be an almost de facto withdrawal of the opposition from the presidential campaign. So I think that it will not benefit either Mikola or the opposition - the opposition in this case will marginalize."

Rygor Kastuseu, deputy leader of the BPF party, almost word for word repeated the arguments against making Mikola Statkevich the single candidate. Is the threat of losing the prospect of participating in the elections, of which, according to them, there are none, more important than the possibility of having a solidarity campaign with the political prisoner, wondered Euroradio. 

Rygor Kastuseu: "If this is campaign in support of Statkevich and solidarity with him, then clearly the BPF party is ready to participate in it, I am ready to participate in it. But if it is limited to the attempt to nominate him, then the company will be limited (at the stage of collecting signatures for submission to the CEC for registration as a presidential candidate - Euroradio). We must take this into account."

The position of the United Civic Party, voiced for Euroradio by Leu Margolin, deputy leader of the United Civic Party, is more pragmatic: they are neither saying "yes" to Statkevich nor "no". They are asking questions to the people who initiated his nomination. 

Leu Margolin: "The person who put forward this nomination should not just say,"We propose to nominate Statkievich!", but to offer a scenario. If there is a scenario that shows how to rouse the people and force the authorities to rehabilitate Statkevich and register him, then you we agree with it."

However, Mr Margolin told Euroradio, even if such a scenario existed, it "would not be very realistic." It means that this political structure will also not support the candidature of Statkevich as a single opposition candidate. 

Photo: Zmitser Lukashuk, nn.by