Chairperson of Vitsebsk Region Executive Committee calls to ‘save the country’ at the election

The Chairperson of the Vitsebsk REC Aliaksandr Kosinets held a press-conference at which he reported about what he did during the two years of work at his position.

However, he talked not only about the results, but also about the perspectives: the official called people to support the incumbent president, calling all alternative candidates ill-bread and incapable people.

Aliaksandr Kosinets stated that in their electoral speeches the candidates allowed inappropriate expressions addressed to the incumbent president, that’s why he considered them ill-bread people. Their next shortcoming is that they earn less than Lukashenka, and the third – that they have never ruled a collective of more than 1,000 people.

Having forgotten that Aliaksandr Lukashenka used to be just a head of a village farm before his election in 1994, the Chairperson of the Vitsebsk REC (who is also Lukashenka’s proxy) urged the people to support this candidate at the election, and added: ‘Together we stand for strong and flourishing Belarus, and we need to save our state’.

All journalists who attended this press-conference vied with each other in retelling this panic statement of the official. However, it is still unclear whether it will be published in the state press: the newspapers still have published no reports about the two years of his government, only Vitsebski Rabochy for 2 December published the announcement Great Tasks Ahead.

In another page of the newspaper we come across the opinions of other supporters of Mr. Lukashenka. For instance, We Feel The Care of The State quotes the Chairperson of the Shumilina district organization of veterans Katsiaryna Palounikava: ‘We, veterans of the Shumilina district, are grateful to Aliaksandr Lukashenka for the care about the older generation, sincerity, patriotism, decisiveness and fairness. We are together in our feelings and thoughts!’

’We consciously support the foreign and the internal policy that is pursued by the incumbent President,’ adds Valiar’ian Matskevich, Deputy Chairperson of the Vitsebsk regional civil association of veterans of the war in Afghanistan.

The statements of representatives of these organizations and other pro-governmental structures are summarized in the address of participants of the special plenum that was held last week, which ends with the following words: ‘Let us all come to the election for a powerful flourishing Belarus and cast our votes for our candidate, a real patriot of our Fatherland – Aliaksandr Ryhoravich Lukashenka!’

Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections