Posted:
16.11.2024 10:04:00
Gigin: Belarusians monitor electoral campaigns both at home and abroad
Over 700,000 signatures have already been collected in support of the current President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko. The Head of State announced that on November 14th when talking to journalists at the renovated Traktor Stadium. A popular drive on that scale is very encouraging. Vadim Gigin, House of Representatives MP and General Director of the National Library, talked to Alfa Radio about other things numbers like that might mean.
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“This level of popular support is a sign of civic solidarity and patriotic sentiment. People realise that in uneasy times like ours, they have to come together, and that’s very important. We see this surge in support for the political course that have been set for Belarus a long time ago. It has demoralised our adversaries abroad: they don’t know what to say to that. Our people got really serious about their future. Besides, the Presidential campaign completes the great political shift: we see that the Belarusian society has matured, our civil society has truly come into its own. We see the real proof of that now,” said the expert.
However, Belarusians are also closely monitoring electoral campaigns that take place abroad. According to Mr. Gigin, we should do that primarily to understand how to build relations with the political forces that win there. Hungary is a great example.
“We are close to them ideologically in many ways. Our assessment of the situation, our values make us able to maintain our communication channel, like their Foreign Minister Szijjarto’s latest visit to Minsk where he took part in the 2nd Conference on Eurasian Security. And Georgia? They say officially they are focused on Euro-Atlantic integration, but their values are close to ours, and their ideology also becomes progressively closer. Does that open a window of opportunity for us? Definitely, it does. In any case, it’s a lot of hard political work that requires situational awareness and a network of contacts. And by the way, political parties play a part there. Communists, for example, maintain lots of contacts with communist and leftist movements worldwide. They could be more or less popular, depending on the place, but they make their voice heard. Liberal democrats have stable contacts with the new right that’s making popularity gains all across Europe. It’s hard, but necessary work that brings us success step by step," concluded the National Library Director.
“This level of popular support is a sign of civic solidarity and patriotic sentiment. People realise that in uneasy times like ours, they have to come together, and that’s very important. We see this surge in support for the political course that have been set for Belarus a long time ago. It has demoralised our adversaries abroad: they don’t know what to say to that. Our people got really serious about their future. Besides, the Presidential campaign completes the great political shift: we see that the Belarusian society has matured, our civil society has truly come into its own. We see the real proof of that now,” said the expert.
However, Belarusians are also closely monitoring electoral campaigns that take place abroad. According to Mr. Gigin, we should do that primarily to understand how to build relations with the political forces that win there. Hungary is a great example.
“We are close to them ideologically in many ways. Our assessment of the situation, our values make us able to maintain our communication channel, like their Foreign Minister Szijjarto’s latest visit to Minsk where he took part in the 2nd Conference on Eurasian Security. And Georgia? They say officially they are focused on Euro-Atlantic integration, but their values are close to ours, and their ideology also becomes progressively closer. Does that open a window of opportunity for us? Definitely, it does. In any case, it’s a lot of hard political work that requires situational awareness and a network of contacts. And by the way, political parties play a part there. Communists, for example, maintain lots of contacts with communist and leftist movements worldwide. They could be more or less popular, depending on the place, but they make their voice heard. Liberal democrats have stable contacts with the new right that’s making popularity gains all across Europe. It’s hard, but necessary work that brings us success step by step," concluded the National Library Director.
