Lukashenko is preparing the destruction of parties
There is no strong party system in Belarus. And this is entirely the merit of Lukashenko. He did not trust parties and did not encourage party building. The last political party in the country was registered 20 years ago, and since then numerous attempts to register a new political force have ended in nothing. The remaining parties, at best, developed neither shaky nor slow, at worst (and this applies to most parties, especially opposition ones) - they rapidly degenerated.
Currently, 15 political parties are officially registered in Belarus, 5 pro-government forces are represented in parliament in small numbers, and there is one minister in the government, the communist Igor Karpenko, who is responsible for education. But soon this sluggish party system may also be destroyed.
The reason for the destruction of the party system may be the recent “resolution of ten,” when 10 out of 15 parties, including 4 pro-government parties, adopted a resolution demanding an end to political violence and early elections within six months.
The resolution infuriated Lukashenko, who said yesterday that the 10 parties had deviated from their charters and missions. He instructed the Minister of Justice to carefully look at all parties - whether they meet the requirements in terms of numbers, structure, whether they work according to their charter, and to re-register the parties before the planned constitutional reform.
For the majority of Belarusian parties, re-registration is tantamount to liquidation. Now in Belarus there are two or three parties that have registered structures in all regions and are able to present data of thousands of real people who will confirm their membership. These are precisely the requirements of the law for a political party.
Such re-registration can be achieved by a Communist Party absolutely loyal to Lukashenko, which calmly swallows even such things as unacceptable for every sane communist, such as the introduction of a universal contract system for hiring, raising the retirement age and a “tax on parasitism.”
Also, there should be no problems for the Liberal Democratic Party, which occupies the LDPR niche in Belarusian politics.
The Republican Party of Labor and Justice is in question. There are people and structures there, there are even 6 deputies of parliament, but recently the party has shown obstinacy and from being pro-government has become neutral, so they can create problems for it during re-registration.
None of the opposition parties in their current form will be able to go through re-registration. Participation in the opposition, especially organized in Lukashenko’s Belarus, has always created problems for a person. It was more difficult for an oppositionist to find a job and make a career; he could be fired upon a call from the executive committee or the special services. Opposition-minded students were expelled or sent after their studies to work as assigned in the wilderness. In the end, not everyone likes the constant unfriendly attention of the state to one’s person.
As a result, there are now few people in the opposition parties and the contingent is unique - professional zmagars, for whom zmagarism is a job or business, idealists and outcasts.
But don't underestimate Lukashenko. The coming defeat of the parties is not the whim of an eccentric grandfather, offended by the party members who adopted the wrong resolution. This is part of a plan for the political transformation of Belarus, designed to maintain Lukashenko's control over the republic after constitutional reform.
It has already been announced that as a result of the constitutional reform, the role of parties will be increased and, most likely, elections will be held according to party lists or a mixed system.
In this context, purges of parties are absolutely logical for a leader like Lukashenko. Only our own, the most reliable ones should remain. The communists and LDPB will remain. They will let former deputy and presidential candidate Anna Kanopatskaya create a party. She will portray the opposition, be responsible for Russophobia and whiten Lukashenko in the eyes of the West. The rest have big problems.
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