OSCE chairman meets opposition, pro-government parties in Belarus
Kazakhstan's foreign minister and OSCE chairman-in-office Kanat Saudabayev met in Minsk with representatives of the civil society and the leaders of the both opposition and pro-government political parties. According to Vital Rymasheuski who is a co-chairmam of the committee to organize the Belarusian Christian Democracy party, the position of pro-government parties was very straightforward and brief.
Vital Rymasheuski: “Their bottomline is that everything is good in Belarus; those opposing Lukashenka are marginals. There is democracy in Belarus, while others have been slandering the country”.
The representatives of the opposition parties and NGOs told the OSCE chairman-in-office that there were no independent trade unions; there are political prisoners and electiosn are rigged.
Apart from the representatives of the Communist Party of Belarus, the Liberal Democratic Party, Belaya Rus and the Union of Officers, several other pro-government parties were represented. Vital Rymasheuski said he 'heard their names for the first time'.
He also described the position of the OSCE chairman-in-office as quite constructive. He boiled down this position as follows: “We would like to see the whole spectrum of the Belarusian society and we would like you to communicate between each other and that democratic processes develop in the country”.
Vital Rymasheuski: “Their bottomline is that everything is good in Belarus; those opposing Lukashenka are marginals. There is democracy in Belarus, while others have been slandering the country”.
The representatives of the opposition parties and NGOs told the OSCE chairman-in-office that there were no independent trade unions; there are political prisoners and electiosn are rigged.
Apart from the representatives of the Communist Party of Belarus, the Liberal Democratic Party, Belaya Rus and the Union of Officers, several other pro-government parties were represented. Vital Rymasheuski said he 'heard their names for the first time'.
He also described the position of the OSCE chairman-in-office as quite constructive. He boiled down this position as follows: “We would like to see the whole spectrum of the Belarusian society and we would like you to communicate between each other and that democratic processes develop in the country”.
