White Maidan activists are preparing to meet with street fighting the “constitutional reform” started by Lukashenko
The constitutional reform, which was initiated by the Belarusian government as a model for overcoming the crisis, threatens to result in a surge of new protests.
President Alexander Lukashenko entrusted the implementation of his reform initiatives to businessman Yuri Voskresensky, who was released from pre-trial detention center specifically for this purpose (he was arrested in August as a member of the headquarters of the failed presidential candidate Viktor Babariko, who is still in prison).
Today Voskresensky announced that the Belarusian justice authorities have registered the institution “Round Table of Democratic Forces” as an operator of national dialogue from the opposition.
He claims that representatives of the Maidan opposition coordination council have already come into contact with him and are already sending their proposals for changes to the legislation, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Now at the first stage they do not advertise their last names so as not to be bullied. More than 70 pages have already been received from the opposition coordination council. The leadership positions in this movement are vacant. We appealed to the members of the coordination council to return to Belarus and take their places as leaders. Nobody claims their crowns and laurels,” Voskresensky said on the state television channel ONT.
The program has not yet aired, but Franak Vyachorka, an adviser to the self-proclaimed national leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, has already given his answer.
“The attitude and position is clear: boycott and ridicule the round table, because it is a circus and an imitation. Ignore the All-Belarusian meeting because the procedure is unclear and not transparent. Hold your own all-Belarusian meeting, because there is no trust in the authorities. Constitutional reform can only happen after the elections or simultaneously with them,” Vyachorka said on the American Radio Liberty.
He also stated that the opposition would gather its “people's assembly” as an alternative to the All-Belarusian Assembly, which, according to Lukashenko, should approve changes to the constitution.
“Nobody knows when Lukashenko convenes his meeting. If it’s in February, then no one will wait for February. Our strategy is to win concessions this year. Our goal is to at least find out the date of new elections this year, and better yet, achieve early elections before December 31. The country is now run by the street. When Lukashenko conducts his get-togethers behind closed doors, people will hold their national meetings. Any initiative of Lukashenko will be ignored or thwarted by the people,” Vyachorka said.
Political scientist Alexander Shpakovsky, close to the administration of the Belarusian president, clarifies that the constitutional reform does not imply Lukashenko’s departure.
“The authorities are not talking about any negotiations on the transit of power towards opposition structures. This is not about a change of power. This question has already been resolved. Those who have already made up their minds abroad continue to call for rallies. For the opposition, the moment of truth comes: are you for peace or for civil conflict,” Shpakovsky said.
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