Belarus in 2006

Belarus in 2006

Area: 207,595 sq km (80,153 sq mi)
Population (2006 est.): 9,726,000
Capital: Minsk
Head of state and government: President Alyaksandr H. Lukashenka, assisted by Prime Minister Syarhey Sidorski

The year 2006 in Belarus was dominated by a contentious and violent presidential election campaign. Four candidates were registered for the March 19 election: Pres. Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Liberal Democratic Party leader Syarhey Haidukevich, Alyaksandr Kazulin of the Social Democratic Party, and the leader of the United Democratic opposition, Alyaksandr Milinkevich. Kazulin was arrested and beaten while trying to register the all-Belarusian People’s Assembly, and all leading officials of the United Democratic camp suffered periods of arrest, usually 15-day terms for “petty hooliganism.” On March 2 Milinkevich called a meeting of his supporters in Minsk’s Freedom Square, which attracted more than 10,000 people before the square was blocked by riot police. In the official election results, Lukashenka received 83% (5,501,249 out of 6,630,653 votes cast); Milinkevich 6%; Haidukevich 3.5%; and Kazulin 2.2%. Voter turnout was 92.6%. Available surveys, however, suggested that Lukashenka’s standing was inflated. The announced results sparked a mass protest in Minsk’s October Square, but the authorities broke it up in the early hours of March 24. At the Independence Day commemoration on March 25, police used tear gas and mock grenades to disperse another large crowd. Among those arrested was Kazulin, who subsequently received a prison sentence of 51/2 years at a trial in mid-July. On April 8 Lukashenka was inaugurated for a third term as president of Belarus. For his part, on December 12 Milinkevich was honoured with the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought.

Following a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg on April 10, a one-year, renewable visa ban was imposed on Lukashenka and 30 leading government officials, including KGB head Stepan Sukhorenka; Prosecutor-General Pyotr Miklashevich; the head of state television and radio, Alyaksandr Zimouski; Minister of Justice Viktor Holovanau; Minister of Information Uladzimir Rusakevich; and Minister of Education Alyaksandr Radkau. The United States imposed a similar ban, which was later extended to include the judge and prosecutor in the Kazulin trial.

On Dec. 27, 2005, Russia and Belarus signed a contract according to which in 2006 the Russian energy company Gazprom would supply to Belarus 21 billion cu m of gas at a price of $46.68 per 1,000 cu m—four to five times lower than the world price level. Over the summer, however, Gazprom announced plans to double prices in 2007. Lukashenka declared that his country refused to consider prices for gas higher than those paid by Germany, especially since Belarusian troops constituted almost the entire force on the border with NATO. He also stressed that Belarus did not agree with Russia’s amendments to the draft plan for the Russia-Belarus Union.

Belarus’s GDP grew by 10.1% in the first half of 2006, with industrial output rising by 12.6% and agricultural production by 6.9%. Official figures indicated a relatively low inflation rate of 2.5% in the period January–April 2006.

by: David R. Marples