1999 press releases

Presidential Election (May 20, 1999)

The Department of State calls attention to the Belarusian opposition's attempt to hold a presidential election that concluded on May 16. The opposition's electoral initiative represented an effort by democrats in Belarus to engage in the dialogue with the Belarusian people that the Lukashenko regime has so far rejected. It dramatized the constitutional and political impasse that President Lukashenko created by overthrowing the country's constitution in 1996 and by his suppression of human rights. It has made clear for all to see his failure to unite the country and ensure political stability.

The United States deplores the Belarusian authorities' measures to suppress this effort to return the country to the path of democratic development. The government conducted reprisals against the election's organizers and participants, jailed presidential candidate and former Prime Minister Chigir on trumped-up charges of corruption and threatened to close independent newspapers for reporting on the election.

We again call on the Belarusian government to change course and take the initiative to convene a dialogue without preconditions with the country's democratic forces and with the public as a whole. The United States will continue to give strong support to democracy and human rights in Belarus and urges the international community to do so.