International

SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer will take the floor on Wednesday in the European Parliament on behalf of the United European Left (GUE-NGL) in the debate on the Belarussian general elections of 28th September. The elections, which employed a district constituency system decided by first-past-the-post voting, resulted in not a single opposition candidate winning a parliamentary seat.

Making opposition impossible

"The problem is not so much that Lukashenko, the President/dictator of Belarussia, in the case of a truly democratic election could perhaps count on a parliamentary majority, but primarily that he will do anything to make it impossible for the opposition to exist," Meijer says. "Many Belarussians regard the situation in their country as better than that in other ex-Soviet states. Our criticisms should mainly be aimed at the lack of democracy in the country." Later in the year Erik Meijer will travel to Belarussia, a landlocked republic on the Polish border and, together with Russia and the Ukraine one of the original Soviet Republics. He will hold talks with representatives of social organisations. Belarussia, capital Minsk,declared its independence in 1991.