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United Civic Party threatens to start campaign for resignation of Lukashenka

The United Civic Party (UCP) will launch a campaign for the resignation of Alyaksandr Lukashenka and his team unless the authorities pay heed to its anti-crisis program, UCP Chairman Anatol Lyabedzka told reporters in Minsk on Wednesday.

On Friday, the UCP’s expert team led by veteran activist Stanislaw Bahdankevich, a former head of the National Bank of Belarus (NBB), will submit to the NBB and the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus their final version of the program outlining measures to deal with the country’s financial crisis, Mr. Lyabedzka said.

The authorities will be given a month to take “serious steps,” and if they fail to take any, the UCP will launch a campaign for the resignation of Mr. Lukashenka and his team, he warned.

Mr. Lyabedzka said that the NBB and the Council of Ministers were not independent, but they had the right to make decisions and a chance to prove that.

The UCP plans to hold meetings with factory workers, public servants and youths in the next two weeks to familiarize them with its proposals, as well as cooperate with independent media outlets in promoting the program, Mr. Lyabedzka said.

“The population should not be just told that the situation is bad,” he said. “People can see and feel this on their own. They should be rather provided with answers to specific questions.”

Mr. Lyabedzka said that the UCP had no intention to discuss its draft with the Presidential Administration. “The cabinet and the National Bank are more legitimate than the Administration,” he said.

Dr. Bahdankevich said that he had repeatedly warned the authorities of the harmful consequences of their economic policy at meetings of the Public Advisory Council under the aegis of the Presidential Administration.

But the authorities would not pay due attention to the warnings, he said. “Instead of investing huge funds available, including those obtained in subsidies from Russia, in the economy, they guzzled them away,” he said. //BelaPAN