Tatstsyana Karatkevich calls herself the only democratic alternative (video)

Tatstsyana Karatkevich made her speech on Belarus-1 on September 17. The politician attached a small white-red-white flag and Pahonya to her collar.

She spoke Russian but started the speech with the Belarusian word ‘’friends”.

She is the only democratic alternative now, Karatkevich claimed. “Lukashenka is tired, he needs rest,” the presidential candidate claimed.

The politician began her speech with a short CV and explained why she wanted to run for President. She wants to solve the problems mentioned during the action People’s Referendum.

The politician spoke about reforms in the economy, social sphere and state apparatus. “Reforms cost a lot but inactivity is more expensive,” Karatkevich claimed.

The candidate actively criticized officials, their mythical struggle with corruption and Belarus’ planned economy. She drew attention to officials’ inertness in solving the simplest life problems.

Tatstsyana Karatkevich also paid attention to the hyper-inflation in Belarus and Belarusians’ decreasing purchase power. She demonstrated the biggest Belarusian banknote (200 thousand roubles):

“I would like to draw attention to this banknote. One could buy 186 litres of milk with it 10 years ago. 44 litres – in 2012. Now you can only buy 22 litres of milk. Money is turning into paper, people say. They promised us 1000-dollar wages five years ago but now we hardly make 350 dollars a month. The government has made us slave millionaires, people joke. Life is getting more and more expensive.”

Tatstsyana Karatkevich accused the authorities of inactivity, the usage of more and more credits that Belarusians have to pay for and of imposing new taxes.

“They have imposed a tax on driving! They make us sign contracts at work, fire us and make us pay the freeloaders’ tax. They impose taxes on taxes!” Karatkevich suggested cancelling all the new taxes.

The candidate mentioned the unemployment issue a lot in her speech. It is almost impossible to get a job, especially in small towns. She spoke about short weeks and the non-competitiveness of Belarusian goods. She promised to solve the problem of full warehouses and to introduce a free market economy.

“Many enterprises have 80% or even 100% of their annual production in warehouses now. The Ministry of Industry cares about sticking to plans but we know what it leads to since the 90s.”

A crisis plan should be created for every enterprise ad the most problematic ones should be closed down, the candidate thinks. The unemployed will be granted 75% of their wages, cheap credits, subsidies and retraining opportunities, Karatkevich assured.

Karatkevich also spoke about the Ministry of Trade. It should stop being a repressive state body and deal with trade issues instead. The politician also mentioned the low quality of education.

Karatkevich has promised to restrict the President’s power so that the state leader would be unable to take decisions on investment policy and to limit the presidency to two terms.

Alyaksandr Lukashenka can no longer fulfil its duties and the current team has proved its inefficiency in the past five years, Karatkevich concluded. She urged to elect a new Belarusian leader.

“The last five years was too much for the current government. The quality of citizens’ life has decreased. One more term will only make it worse. Lukashenka is tired, he needs rest. People will thank him for all the good but we need to move forward. We need new leaders, new ideas and new methods,” Karatkevich said. “We will start developing this way. We need the will to conduct peaceful changes. Belarus can get out of the crisis and make a step forward only this way. The only way to say it is to come to polling stations on the Election Day and vote for me, Tatstsyana Karatkevich, vote for peaceful changes. Long live, Belarus!”