Formation and development of political parties in the Republic of Belarus

Formation and development of political parties in the Republic of Belarus

The formation of a multiparty system in Belarus, as in other former Soviet republics, was due to several factors: the crisis of economic and political system of Soviet society, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall in prestige of the CPSU, reducing the influence of communist ideology, belief in the unsuitability of a one-party system, enhancement, especially in among intellectuals, social democratic and liberal ideas, proclaiming the sovereignty of the Republic of Belarus and discussions about the choice of paths of development.

In fact, the beginning of the formation of political parties in Belarus associated with the emergence and formation in 1986-1987. kinds of discussion clubs and informal organizations ( "talaq," Legacy "," Tuteishya "," Martyralog Belarus ", etc.).

In October 1988 on the basis of informal associations was created orgkomit Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) for the restructuring of the "Revival", the constituent assembly which was held in June 1989 in Vilnius. After Congress II (March 1991, Minsk), Belarusian Popular Front was transformed into a party with a vertical organizational structure, individual membership, the payment of contributions to the formation of their cells in the labor collectives.

In terms of social upheaval the early 1990s., Complex socio-economic processes, confrontation of power and opposition forces to form political parties of various ideological directions, formed a multiparty system. In 1991, the republic actually existed several parties, including the Communist Party of Belarus and stood in opposition to it.

In August 1991, after the failed coup GKChP Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus has suspended the activities of the Communist Party of Belarus. In December 1991, was established the Belarusian Communist Party (BCP) was incorporated in May 1992 In February 1993, Parliament reversed its decision to suspend the activities of CPB, after which the republic there were two Communist parties.

An important role in shaping the party system in the country played a presidential election in July 1994, and the Law "On political parties", adopted by the Supreme Soviet of Belarus in October 1994, the Law for the first time in the history of the Belarusian legislation was laid down procedure for the formation and activities of political parties . Based on the Law of the minimum number of members required to register a political party, was increased from 100 to 500 people. After the law "On political parties" (1994) by virtue of their re-registration was carried out, which passed all 24 existing at that time the political parties.

After the referendum in 1996 and the dissolution of the Supreme Soviet of the 13th convocation of the number of political parties in the republic fell, was an intense process of reorganization. However, some parties were registered only on paper, were not among the population of serious social support, organizational units in the field, did not conduct any work. According to the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus were considered inactive Humanitarian Party, the Belarusian Research and Production Congress, the Belarusian Party of "cleansing", the Belarusian Party of Beer Lovers, etc.

On the formation of a multiparty system in Belarus has a significant impact Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus of 26 January 1999 "On some measures to regulate the activities of political parties, trade unions and associations, under which was held to re-registration. The decree has increased the minimum number of party members required for registration, with 500 to 1000 from the majority of oblasts and Minsk. As a result of the 28 existing at the time of the issuance of the Decree of political parties were reregistered 17. In 2007, the countrys Supreme Court ruled to liquidate the Belarusian Ecological Green Party "BEZ" and the Belarusian Party of Women "Nadzeya".

Thus, at present (May 2008), the party system in Belarus includes 15 officially registered political parties.

Depending on your political orientation, ideologies, attitudes towards statehood of the republic, to the problems of national and cultural revival of the Belarusian party can be divided into several groups.

The first group includes the "Left" parties: the Communist Party of Belarus (CPB), the Agrarian Party, Belarusian Patriotic Party, the Republican Party of Labor and Justice, Communist Party of Belarus (PCB). These parties uphold the socialist path of development, the establishment of systematic and state-regulated commodity-money relations. In the social sphere, they stand for the right to work, to provide free secondary and higher education, free medical care, decent housing, accessible recreation, social justice, welfare and safety of its citizens.

With regard to the Communist Party of Belarus, as opposed to the Communist Party of Belarus, have supported the course conducted in the country and the state ideology, the PCB is now lost its influence in society, entered into a coalition with right-wing "parties (the United Civil and BNF) and opposed the existing power, its internal and foreign policy.

The second group (social-democratic and socialist parties) may include the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Gramada), Party of the Belarusian Social Democratic Hramada, the Social Democratic Party of popular consent. They advocate a socially oriented market economy reforms, with strong social protection of population from the state and seek to express a position that combines national traditions with international experience, which avoids the extremes of "right" and "left-wing radicalism. The first two consider themselves to be bearers of the social-democratic traditions in Belarus, originating from the established in 1903, the Belarusian Socialist Hramada.

Social Democratic Party of popular consent, rather than joining the opposition, in favor of the union of moderate social and political forces, the consolidation of the Belarusian society. The essence of the idea of popular consent is to abandon the revolutionary leaps in favor of evolutionary development based on sound and progressive reforms. At the same time, the party does not exclude the political struggle, but limits its rigid framework of law and morality.

The third group consists of the Party of the liberal-conservative orientation - United Civil Party (UCP) and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). They underline the commitment to liberal values, market economy, democracy and the multiparty system, guarantee civil rights and liberties. LDP, while claiming constructive opposition to power, while at the same time supports the President of the Republic of Belarus and criticizing the number of opposition parties. This is the largest in the countrys political party.

The main objective of the UCP, as emphasized in the held in April 2008, the Eleventh Party Congress, is to strengthen the Partys influence in society, attracting to its ranks of professionals and influential people, strengthening and developing regional structures. This is especially important, given that the delegates to the Congress harshly criticized the nerve center of the UCP because he "looked up from the regions", withdrew from active political activities of managers and technicians are able to attract new members into the party.

A fourth group (the national-democratic parties) are the Conservative Christian Party - BPF and BPF - one of the oldest parties in the republic. The division of the party into two independent organizations have been caused by a sharp decline in its credibility in the political life of the country, as well as leaders of opposing views on events in society and in the party process. Differences within the BNF have been caused by the reluctance Z. Poznyak and his supporters to change the strategy and tactics in the national-democratic movement, to compromise with potential allies. Dissension BPF, ideological and organizational separation, disruption of cooperation with political parties of the democratic direction, claim to political isolation, weak institutional structures - all this led to a sharp drop in rankings in both parties.

The fifth group includes the Belarusian Green Party, the Republican Party and the Belarusian Social and Sports Party. At these parties there is no system-ideological principles, a clear reliance on certain social strata and the possibility of a significant impact on political life in the country.

Traditional left-right political divide with regard to Belarus is largely arbitrary and does not reflect the diversity of inter-party differences.

At present, the party system of the Republic of Belarus is in the formative stage, is unstable and has its own peculiarities.

One of the factors hampering the development of party building in Belarus, is the fact that today the party is not represented in the executive branch. Without representation in power structures, they are unable to play the role of facilitator and liaison, communication bridge between state and society, to become, finally, a form of citizen participation in political decision-making and control authority.

Because political parties do not have the power levers to address the pressing problems of people, people do not see the existence of large parties benefit and do not need them. It is therefore becomes relevant guidance "bridges", the dialogue and close cooperation with the authorities, political parties, bringing them to the consideration and adoption of important socio-economic and political decisions.

In connection with the weak material-technical base of most political parties does not own the media, shaping public opinion, and state and independent media are usually trying to distance themselves from them.

Not all parties are able to develop a scientifically based, socially balanced, constructive program of activities. Policy documents of many parties do not contain a clear vision of the political, socio-economic and spiritual development, characterized by eclecticism ideological conclusions, vagueness, uncertainty about the future society. Despite the fact that most parties favor a transition to a market economy, democracy and the rule of law, the sovereignty of Belarus, in their programs there is no mechanism for such a transition, balanced and professional assessment of the situation, competitive proposals, the development of specific measures and ways to achieve goals. Program number of political parties are obsolete and do not correspond to the realities of our time. With many of the provisions of the party documents can not agree. Proposals are available in the arsenals of a number of parties, need to be analyzed to determine their suitability in terms of historical experience.

With the lack of differentiation of society in the socio-political terms, the lack of middle-class social base for a full-fledged multi-party system, fragmentation of the labor movement, it is difficult to determine who actually represent the party and their leaders. The extreme degree of fragmentation of the party forces, their inability to consolidate - all this confirms the obvious weakness of the Belarusian party. Most of them are few in composition and with difficulty managed to step required for the registration line in 1000. It is impossible not to notice that many smaller parties do not know anything except the names of their leaders.

Moreover, among the political forces with a similar ideological orientation and acting in a political field does not manifest a tendency towards mutual understanding, to unite and strengthen those forces. This is evidenced by the separate existence of the same type of political organization: the two parties, the Belarusian Popular Front, two - with a focus on the development of the republican system, two - with the communist ideology, a few social-democratic parties. In this regard, there is a need to unite close in the partys ideology. Such parties, reflecting the social and political aspirations of the citizens, to compete for authority to implement the goals.

By mistake of the party, include the lack of attention to the creation of organizational structures in the regions and the absence of a permanent job with them, internal divisions, petty fight with each other for the strengthening of positions in the Democratic camp, instead of the association to address important policy goals, etc.

The above factors contributed to the weakness and backwardness of a multiparty system. Therefore, talking about the current party system can not yet walk. It is known that the party system in countries with developed democracy was established over decades, for example, in America - more than a hundred years. The presence of multiple parties - this is not a multiparty system, but only the basis for the deployment of the confrontation of ideas, rather than social interests. Genuine multi-party needs to establish a special regulatory mechanism: the interaction among parties, between parties and power structures, between parties and society. The effectiveness of political parties, opposition forces depends on their ability to gain support in elections, from entering into meaningful negotiations with the government. This would enable us to remove mistrust, bias in the relationship and create the conditions for the coordination of positions and civilized conflict resolution.

Thus, multi-party system as a permanent factor of universality and democratic social system in Belarus is still in its infancy. Its formation - a long and controversial process. The real state of the political spectrum will be determined not with every available state parties, but only those of them who will win the confidence of the people included on the system of power and can influence the progress and implementation of public and government affairs at the critical issues facing society.