STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Goncharik, 61, said he had no objection to Belarus joining the European Union and NATO. [The suitcases full of Deutschmarks and US dollars are no doubt already arriving in Minsk, as the Sorosite "independent media" kick into gear and neo-fascist skinheads are recruited into OTPOR-type assault squads: All the earmarks of NATO democracy for export. When does the Belarus Parliament building go up in flames?] Sunday July 22, 1:44 AM Belarus opposition agrees on single election candidate MINSK, July 21 (AFP) - The opposition in the former Soviet republic of Belarus announced Saturday it would field a single presidential candidate against hardline leader Alexander Lukashenko and predicted victory if the elections were fair. "We appeal to all political forces, organisations and citizens to support us for the sake of the future of Belarus," said new opposition candidate Vladimir Goncharik. He will lead a bid on September 9 to topple Lukashenko, whose authoritarian regime has come under fire at home and abroad with charges of political opponents ending up in prison or disappearing. The new five-man opposition team have said they believe their alliance can win if the vote was free and fair. But foreign observers are much more cautious about the opposition's prospects. Despite his tough image, Lukashenko, 46, a former Soviet collective farm boss who has ruled here since 1994, enjoys a popularity rating of 43.8 percent and Goncharik only 10.3 percent, according to opinion polls. "If we win, society will become democratic and the economy will be reformed," said Goncharik, once a communist official of the former state-controlled Soviet trade union movement and now leader of his country's largest trade union. Goncharik, 61, said he had no objection to Belarus joining the European Union and NATO. However, observers say Russia would firmly resist any idea of a former Soviet constituent republic such as its neighbour Belarus joining the Atlantic Alliance - and Belarus is heavily dependent on Russia economically. Goncharik gained the backing of the four other opposition leaders, who will withdraw from the race at the beginning of August when the electoral commission confirms who can run. "All five of us will work in a united team and combine our efforts," he said. Sergei Kalyakin, a communist, said he believed other candidates sharing the ideas of the main opposition would join the anti-Lukashenko alliance. Others in the new oppositon alliance are former prime minister Mikhail Chigir, former defence minister Pavel Kozlovsky and a former mayor of the northwest city of Grodno, Semyon Domash. The opposition boycotted last October's parliamentary elections which were marred by irregularities, according to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Western powers have kept Lukashenko's regime isolated because of what they consider human rights violations and undemocratic practices. Several political opponents to Lukashenko have ended up in prison, on disputed charges, or disappeared. The economy has remained practically unreformed since Belarus became independent with the dissolution the Soviet Union in 1991. The oppposition is at the mercy of a president who governs by decree and can change the rules of the game at any time. Its only opportunity to get its voice heard is on neighbouring Russian television, which is watched in Belarus. But the opposition is openly supported from Washington which has demanded an investigation into the disappearance of regime opponents. On Friday four women pleaded in Washington for international support over their husbands, who have been jailed, disappeared or died in suspicious circumstances. The opposition is pinning its hopes on forcing the vote to a second round, which it believes it could grow into a protest movement against Lukashenko that will topple him. Foreign observers are much more cautious and see the elections more as an important test for the opposition, the realisation by public opinion that an alternative exists and that there can be an end to Lukashenko's power monopoly. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
