Łukašenka’s supporter seeks to ban opposition from presidential elections

January 8, Pozirk. The right to nominate presidential candidates should be granted only to parliamentary parties and the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly, Aleh Hajdukievič, a staunch supporter of incumbent Alaksandar Łukašenka, has said in his radio address as part of his presidential campaign.

Currently, presidential hopefuls in Belarus are required to garner at least 100,000 voter ballot-access signatures to qualify for the race.

In his radio address, Hajdukievič argued emphatically against the introduction of a parliamentary system of government in Belarus, apparently criticizing another presidential bidder Hanna Kanapackaja’s proposal.

A potential return to a parliamentary republic would lead to “mess and chaos,” he said.

Also running in the election to be held later this month are Belarus’ longtime ruler Alaksandar Łukašenka, and his supporters, Siarhiej Syrankoŭ and Alaksandar Chižniak.

“We are against the idea of a parliamentary republic proposed by one of the candidates,” Hajdukievič said. “We went through all this in the 1990s. There must be a leader in charge. We must be protected from political intriguers who run for president to sort out their personal affairs.”

Parliamentary governance would hamper decision-making, he added, suggesting that “incompetent politicians, traitors” and opposition politicians should be banned from running in presidential elections.

The ongoing seventh presidential campaign in Belarus is taking place in a purged political landscape amid a new wave of crackdown on regime critics.

The Belarusian opposition dismissed the election as a sham, noting that political reprisals prevent pro-democracy candidates from running and voters from freely expressing their will.

The country has not held a single free and fair election since 1996 by the standards of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

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