Artem Sokolov on Vesti.FM: opposition activities in Belarus are in no way linked to the lives of ordinary people

The activities of the Belarusian opposition parties on the eve of elections do not affect the lives of ordinary people, the analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza, Artem Sokolov, said today in the National Question program on Vesti FM.

The National Question is a weekly program on Vesti.FM, during which various aspects of national relations, primarily in Russia, are discussed. Today’s program was dedicated to the events in Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, where the opposition has called for restricting of Russian TV channels broadcasting and lowering the status of the Russian language.

According to the previous year data, 15 political parties are registered in Belarus. "At the same time, their ratings, for many years, have been at a very low level, within the statistical error. The most popular party has a rating of about 2.5-2.7%, and the most unpopular party - 0.7%, that is, the difference is only 1.5-2%. Experts believe that this happens due to the fact, that between elections, the activities of the parties are practically in no way linked to the lives of ordinary people, and the party activists do not know how to interact with their voters. The most numerous parties now are Liberal Democratic Party - about 50 thousand people - and Communist Party - about 6 thousand people. The rating of the last one fell 20-25 times for the past 20 years,”  Artem Sokolov said.

The analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza indicated that all political parties and movements in Belarus, both registered and unregistered, can be divided into three groups. "The first group is the so-called constructive opposition, which is ready to compromise with the authorities. The country's leadership does not consider them close allies, but at the same time, they do not consider them as enemies. These are the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus, the Communist Party, which I already mentioned, also the Agrarian Party, the Patriotic Party, the Republican Party, the Green Party and the Social Democratic Party of Popular Accord, ” he said.

The second group includes representatives of the unconstructive opposition, not ready to negotiate with the authorities. “They are the United Civic Party, the Social-Democratic People’s Assembly party. This group also includes the Belarusian Popular Front and the Conservative Christian Party - BNF. Both of them appeared as a result of the collapse of the People’s Front in 1999. By the way, the Belarusian Popular Front, in a statement adopted at the congress held a week ago, demanded to reduce the broadcast of Russian TV channels in the country and declare  2019 the year of the Belarusian language. In the second group, there are also human rights movements - Movement ‘For Freedom’ and ‘Tell the Truth’. Not so long ago they  made quite loud statements on the bilateral cooperation between Russia and Belarus ", Artem Sokolov said.

"The third group is a group of loyal parties. It includes the Republican Party of Labor and Justice, the Belarusian Socialist Sporting Party, the Federation of Trade Unions, the Belarusian Public Association of Veterans, the Belarusian Republican Youth Union (BRYU), the Republican Public Association ‘Belaya Rus’, the Belarusian Union of Women ", the expert listed.

“Returning to the call of the Belarusian Popular Front to restrict broadcasts of Russian TV channels, it can be assumed that this year there will be more such resonant statements heard in Belarus. This is due to the fact, that in 2020 Belarus will hold the presidential and parliamentary elections. The CEC of Belarus previously told that the election campaigns are likely to be divided in time since the elections politicize the atmosphere in the country, which does not benefit the society. It is planned that the first elections will be held at the end of this year. There is no decision on this issue yet, however, according to experts, the presidential elections will be held at the end of this year,’’ Artem Sokolov concluded.