Krystian Kamiński on X.
The media live this week with Vladimir Putin's election as president of Russia. However, I would like to deal with, as I tend to do, a substance which has completely gone from the position of the media, politicians and mainstream commentators, and which concerns a country not so much little crucial to Poland than Russia, that is Belarus. At the end of February, elections were held in this country from the lower home of Representatives and local councils. In Poland, fewer people have taken an interest in them as predictable as Vladimir Putin's election for president of Russia, and his function has been played by us confidently and universally dismissive of everything that happens in the country of the smaller east neighbour. However, the results of the Belarusian elections proved to be, in any respects, not so apparent again and marked by real political processes over Niemne and Piśłoczna.
Over the 3 decades of Lukashenko's rule, the jury of the home of Representatives filled the overwhelming majority with formal independent deputies, i.e. those who passed through single-mandate electoral districts outside the committees of political parties. They were supported, in accordance with the russian tradition, by the “employee collectives”, the authoritative Federation of Trade Unions, but were formally “independent candidates”. Over the years, this reflected the fact that the political strategy had fallen under Lukashenko's far-reaching personalization. Both the political practice of Alexander Grigoriewicz and the constitutional reforms implemented by him gave the president in rule full power. Łukaszenko implemented it through "vertikal owns", that is simply through the nomenclature, the hierarchy of the state administration, whose all threads came together in the President's administration.
Ersatz ideologies, the most unobvious in administrative terms, were implemented by the authoritative trade unions, which are a very successful tool for mobilising and managing citizens for additional purposes, in a country with specified a large share of the state sector in the economy. This is besides served by a network of ideologie officials installed in public institutions, but besides in state enterprises. In addition, it has survived the structure of the erstwhile Komsomol, since 2002 under the name of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union (BRSM), which serves to influence school and student youth, although this tends to boil down to ad hoc mobilization of it, specified as participation in specified or another elections, academics, social acts.
BELORUS ELECTIONS
The media live this week with Vladimir Putin's election as president of Russia. However, I would like to deal with, as I tend to do, a substance that has completely gone off the radar with the media, politicians and mainstream commentators, and which concerns the country not so much... pic.twitter.com/F0pRoM9k4q
In practice, Alexander Lukashenko eliminated the political organization phenomenon from the strategy of power. These oppositionist ones were deprived of access, not only to management, but besides to mass communication. Last year, the last 1 was banned. And those accepting leaders were kept at a low level of activity. The ruling organization of Lukashenko never allowed to create. And in this sense, elections to the home of Representatives can reflect the fresh dynamics of the political strategy of Belarus.
51 out of 110 seats will be taken by the White Rus organization in the home (“Belaya Rus”). The Republican Labour and Justice organization (RPTS) will have 8 seats (2 more than in erstwhile term), the Communist organization of Belarus (KPB) 7 seats (4 less), the Liberal-Democratic organization of Belarus (LDPB) will have 7 (3 more). The last 3 parties have been active in Belarusian politics for years, playing a fundamentally propaganda role. After last year's amendment to the Political organization Act, only these of all political organisations stay legal, which marks the degree of increased restrictiveness of the political strategy of Belarus after 2020. Only they... plus 1 fresh batch – just White Rus.
It was founded 17 years ago, but as an association. She was a form of nomenclature circles. Almost from the beginning, it signaled the desire to form a political party, but the leader put a limit to these ambitions. Last year, White Rus was registered as a organization and immediately went on the parliamentary stage.
Of course, the function of the home of Representatives and Parliament in the actual power strategy of Belarus in general is limited. So far, her deputies have had very small legislative initiative. A more crucial consequence of the elections is the manifestation of institutionalization of something that can transform into a legal and officially aggregate party, expressing the interests and views of the nomenclature. specified parties are given the will and chance to push these views and interests. If this happens, it will be the first major political change in Belarus since the consolidation of the individual power of Alexander Lukashenko in the second half of the 1990s.
However, this change has not only an intra-political dimension. White Russians have ties to Russian political elites, and the organization itself is officially cooperating with 1 Russia. Thus, 1 more rule which the Belarus leader adhered to can be challenged – that he monopolizes political relations with the east ally and protector.
