English

Sannikaw denounces denial of extra airtime as most serious obstacle to campaigning

Andrey Sannikaw has denounced the election authorities’ refusal to recommend granting extra airtime to Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s rivals in the presidential race.

“They deprived us of airtime two weeks before the vote to enable only one person to perform a solo, and pour mud onto us in the meantime,” Mr. Sannikaw, a former deputy foreign minister who now leads an opposition group called European Belarus, said at a campaign meeting in Mahilyow on Monday.

“But we try to make use of every opportunity available for campaigning,” he said. “If the opportunities were equal, Lukashenka would not have the slightest chance.”

The presidential candidate said that the denial of airtime was the most serious obstacle to the campaigning activity.

He said that he and his wife had fallen victim to a telephone terror campaign. “They placed various ads with my telephone number on Russian and Belarusian websites and now I cannot pick up the phone when an unknown number is calling. This makes my work difficult.”

While commenting on his previous meetings with voters, Mr. Sannikaw said that many people were worried about Belarus’ external debt and “lawlessness raging in the country." “Workers are concerned about the employment contract system, senior citizens about pensions, students about about a lack of opportunities to study in Europe and the difficulty of finding a job,” he said. “But overall, people hope and feel that everything can change very quickly."

Several hundreds people showed up for the meeting with Mr. Sannikaw, filling the venue to its full capacity. //BelaPAN