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Belarusian Christian Democracy leaders meet with local activists in Homyel

Leaders of Belarusian Christian Democracy (BCD) visited Homyel on November 2, meeting with local members of the opposition party.

Paval Sevyarynets and Vital Rymashewski, co-chairpersons of the party, discussed preparations for next year’s local elections and the 2015 presidential election with the local activists.

Mr. Sevyarynets expressed gratitude to activists for their letters that he had received while serving his “restricted freedom” sentence in a correctional institution in the Brest region.

Outlining his vision of the political situation in Belarus, the former political prisoner said that although the people appeared to have lost trust in the government, support for opposition forces was not growing. “We need a moral revolution. The 70-year Communist rule and Lukashenka’s 20-year rule have destroyed the people’s moral foundations, the public has learned to lie, steal, be afraid, and fear has become the norm. A normal state cannot be built on this foundation,” he said.

Speaking about the party’s preliminary strategy for the local elections, Mr. Sevyarynets said that BCD would likely field its candidates but would ask them to quit the race one week before the vote.

He said that the party planned to observe the elections on a massive scale and also set up teams of experts and activists to help people in the provinces solve their local problems.

Mr. Sevyarynets promised that BCD would take steps to secure a united opposition camp and a single opposition candidate in the 2015 election. He said that the party tried to draw two major opposition alliances closer to each other.

Alyaksandr Sharypaw was elected leader of the party’s Homyel regional chapter at the meeting. Singer-songwriter Andrey Melnikaw was elected deputy chairperson.