Will presidential contenders refuse from televised debates?
Euroradio has found out whether the contenders will debate without Aliaksandr Lukashenka and who prefers whom as a possible opponent.
Potential candidates want to meet with the current President at the
televised debates. In case Lukashenka ignores debates, Rymasheuski will
try to debate with all the other contenders, while Mikhalevich and
Kastusyou will argue against each other. The European Radio for Belarus
has decided to find out who would like to debate with whom.
Thus, Viktar Tsiareshchanka sees no other sparring-partner but the current President:
Viktar Tsiareshchanka: "I
would like to discuss this or that issue with representatives of the
authorities. What do I need Kastusyou or Sannikau for? What can they
tell me? No one but me participated in the elaboration of State
programs. No one knows certain economic situation. No one suggested
anything, including Nyaklyaeu.
Ramanchuk is an economist by
education, he doesn't work as an economist. I would like to talk to
representatives of the authorities, so they explain why they acted this
or that way. Why they let the default happen, the one which was hidden
from the people. Who can give me a reply to that -Ramanchuk or Sannikau?
No one can".
It is interesting, that Jaraslau Ramanchuk shares this opinion to some extent:
Jaraslau Ramanchuk: "The
only person to debate is Aliaksandr Lukashenka as he has led the
country into a hopeless situation. There's no point in debates without
him. It will be not debates, but introducing of the opposition in this
case".
True, there are debates only when there are different
views of the situation. Representatives of democratic forces have more
or less similar opinions. However, Ales Mikhalevich will find something to argue about with any of the contenders:
Ales Mikhalevich : "Definitely,
ideally it would be the current leader of the State. However, there are
things on which I think the same as other contenders do, and on some
subjects I disagree with them, sometimes strongly disagree".
Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu wants
to debate only with Lukashenka and only broadcasted live. However, as
the debates are to be shown on TV in the recorded version, the
poet-contender will ignore them and appeal to other contenders to do the
same.
Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu: "There
should be a common demand to show the debates live. If we fail to
achieve that - we should refuse from participation in the debates
altogether. However, this will never happen as approximately one third
of those who struggle, let us say, to make it to "play-offs" are ready
for anything just to be shown on screen so people get to know them".
Naturally, this concerns more young, unexperienced potential candidates. However, Ryhor Kastusyou would also find with whom to debate at the First National TV-Channel:
Ryhor Kastusyou: "It
is unreasonable to debate with contenders who have convictions which
are close to ours. What can we argue about? If Lukashenka ignores the
debates, I would debate with Nyaklyaeu, Sannikau, Ramanchuk".
Andrej Sannikau has been the most mysterious about his participation in the televised debates:
Andrej Sannikau: "I don't know how they are going to organize the debates so I cannot say anything about my participation thereof yet".
Vital Rymasheuski is
convinced that it is worth it to go for debates even without
Lukashenka. However, in order democrats would not quarrel with each
other in front of the cameras it is reasonable to meet beforehand and
think everything over.
Vital Rymasheuski: "We'll make
the following suggestion: all the contenders should meet before the
debates and think over the format of participation. As Lukashenka would
benefit if we show the democratic forces as broken and quarelling with
each other".