Oginski Polonaise instead of pre-election speech

• 29.08.2012, 10:37

Calls to boycott the “election” were replaced by the polonaise “Farewell to the Homeland”.

The pre-election speech of Uladzimir Shantsau, the head of the Mahilou regional branch of the United Civil Party (UCP), was not aired on the state radio. Instead, the audience could hear the polonaise “Farewell to the Homeland”, Radio Svaboda reports.

Uladzimir Shantsau is a candidate in the Mahilou Pramyslovy constituency No. 87.

Uladzimir Shantsau says he called on voters to boycott the “election”.

“I said there are no elections in the country. If there are no elections, the country lives in fear. If there are no elections, the Constitution is being ignored. If there are no elections, economy faces collapses. Being a UCP member, I said that I run in the election to have a legal opportunity to say the truth about falsifications and call on voters support our campaign 'For free elections without Lukashenka'. I urged people not to vote and go to their summer houses or go fishing instead,” Uladzimir Shntsau said.

The state radio also didn't air the speech of UCP candidate Alyaksei Paulouski. The activist runs in elections in Mahilou Tsentralny constituency No. 85. The song “Solovyinaya Pesna” (Nightingale's Song) by Russian singer Lev Leshchenko was played on the radio instead of his speech.

On August 27, pre-election speech of UCP candidate from Babruisk Matvei Khatari was not aired on Belarus-2 TV channel. Like Shantsau, the activist called to boycott the “election”.