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Latest update: 18/12/2010
- Belarus - elections
Opposition cries foul over 'humiliating' propaganda
Belarus President Alexandr Lukashenko faces an unprecedented nine opposition candidates Sunday in the country's most open vote in years. But his rivals say they have been the targets of vicious and humiliating state propaganda.
AP - An opposition activist depicted as a bikini-clad gay on national TV. Leaflets telling lies about a presidential hopeful. An honors student suddenly expelled from university after appearing in a video making fun of the president.
Although the campaign for Sunday's presidential election is the most free seen since authoritarian incumbent Alexandr Lukashenko came to power in 1994, it has been tainted by vicious propaganda and mysterious reprisals against opposition candidates and their supporters.
It has also been shadowed by the hanging death of an activist close to a top Lukashenko challenger.
An unprecedented nine candidates are running against Lukashenko, and they have been granted unusual freedom to campaign. The candidates have been given time to debate on state television and radio - the country has no independent broadcasters - although Lukashenko has not participated.
The comparative openness apparently reflects Lukashenko's desire to improve relations with Europe and the United States amid troubled relations with longtime patron Russia. But Lukashenko appears to have no desire for a genuinely competitive election, and dirty tricks have abounded.
“Lukashenko must make concessions to the West and create a democratic facade in these elections,'' said independent political analyst Aleksandr Klaskovsky. “But in exchange, he has turned on the machine to discredit opponents to full capacity.”
A recent documentary on Belarus' state-controlled Channel One portrayed the campaign staff of a top opposition candidate, Vladimir Neklyayev, as a gang of homosexuals, pedophiles, drug addicts and swindlers.
In the film, an unnamed bearded man identified as a member of Neklyayev's campaign was shown posing for photos in a purple bikini and then in a silk nightgown. The film also accused Neklyayev's activists of document forgery and possessing child porn and illegal drugs. Neklyayev says the movie is nothing but lies.
Opposition candidate Andrei Sannikov complained that voters in the city of Brest have been given fake leaflets purportedly from his campaign that urged NATO membership for Belarus - which he opposes. Sannikov blames Lukashenko supporters.
“Government propaganda is trying to humiliate all democratic candidates in any possible way,'' said Neklyayev.
Lukashenko himself has been the target of campaign jabs. In a video clip that went viral in Belarus, two bulky louts show up at the door of an old woman and pressure her to sign up as a Lukashenko voter. Her grandson snatches her passport before the men can jot down her details.
The video's creator, a state broadcasting company employee, was fired, and the college student who played the grandson was kicked out of school, according to the opposition organization Charter 97.
The group, whose founders include Sannikov, remains haunted by the September death of another of its founders - Oleg Bebenin, who was found hanging in his summer home. Under pressure from the West, Belarus allowed Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe investigators to probe the death.
The investigation concluded it was suicide, but Charter 97 suspects foul play and complained that investigators did nothing but review evidence provided by local authorities they say are biased. The group says Bebenin left no suicide note and had shown no signs of despair that would lead to suicide.
There has also been concern that Lukashenko's regime is stuffing ballot boxes in early voting that began Tuesday.
The OSCE, which has sent a large international observer mission to Belarus, noted in a report last week that Belarus this year adopted laws requiring ballot boxes used in early voting to be sealed at night. But it is unclear how closely that regulation is being followed.
Valentin Stefanovich, coordinator of a group of independent Belarusian election observers, said Friday that “during the period of early voting, the authorities began the falsification process that was seen in all previous elections.”
He also claimed that students, soldiers and workers in state enterprises are being forced to take part in the early voting. All those sectors of the population are seen as especially vulnerable to pressure to vote for Lukashenko.
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Comments (9)
Wonder...
They are catching up to the American "democracy" of slandering your opponent with lies. We are a failure as a human race to let politics continue like this.
Obamao now has a new role
Obamao now has a new role model.
Elections
How barbaric! We here, in the USA, would never run a dirty campaign like that because our media calls the issues right down the middle and doesn't take sides. Wait...I apologize, I was thinking it was still 1800 not 2010. Nevermind!
stuffing boxes
Sounds like the government is borrowing a page or two of the regressive/ Democrats play books.
Curbing free speech
This is all about limiting Free Speech. After all, censorship is everywhere. The gov’t (and their big business cronies) censor free speech, shut down dissent and ban the book “America Deceived II”. Free speech for all.
Last link (before Google Books bans it also]:
http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000190526
30 Year Media Bias Results Are In
Problem: I no longer trust whatever the news media says any more because they have spent the last few decades becoming more and more partisan and lying to the public to gain their political objectives. Having gamed the system by misuse of their communication power, they have leaned many countries socialist and are in the process of creating a Big Brother world. They of course deny this, but it seems obvious to a large percentage of people who no longer read the news papers, which is the reason they have continuously falling readership. They lie. Therefore they can not be trusted. Oh well. Sorry Belarius. You should blame the media liars for lack of public support on this issue, and continue to fight your battle - if you are indeed fighting it at all. That, unfortunately is doubtful since the media says you are. Therefore, it is probable that you are not. Since they keep lying to us. The mass media should be prosecuted by world opinion for this situation.
Very Familiar
This sounds like the Democrats in a typical Chicago election. I suspect Rahm Emanuel is taking notes.
I am seeing a country with
I am seeing a country with nearly full employment, nice clean streets, and people with intelligince and grace. Id say that this Lukashenko guy is at worst a "benevolent dictator" much like the President of the USA. After all it is not the common man that is nomiated for presidential candidates, but rather the rich elite who have support from the bankers and billionaires in the USA and world whose support is key to placing "their guys" in the White House.
Belarus Elections
Not a bit surprised at any of this. It's good though that the news media is doing whatever they can to bring the spotlight of world opinion to the country.
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