Piotr Kuzniatsou: The interspecific competition within the opposition will continue to take place

Interspecific competition

Political situation in the Gomel region generally follows a nationwide trend, such as indifference to the parliamentary elections, and fragmentation of actions in the opposition structures.

This opinion was expressed in a conversation with the EuroBelarus Information Service by the coordinator of the Gomel-based branch of the Movement For Freedom and the head of the civil initiative “Gomel Democratic Forum” Piotr Kuzniatsou. 

Describing the mood in the society relating to the election campaign, the expert highlighted the prevalence of apathy and indifference both on the part of the population, and on the side of the main political forces. "The campaign is passing somehow by", noted Piotr Kuzniatsou.

There is no compliance at the regional level in the Gomel region, noted the head of the “Gomel Democratic Forum”. "Here are presented the main forces of all-Belarusan organizations, so they are acting according to the strategies they have adopted. The compliance exists only between supporters of the boycott tactics from within. And there are a couple of young candidates, Galina Krauchanka and Ihar Sluchak who have held active positive campaign. They were supported by the same social forces and assisted in the organization of major electoral events”, said the EuroBelarus source.

Talking of fragmentation within the democratic forces, Piotr Kuzniatsou stressed that, in his opinion, "These are not the latest showdowns inside the opposition, but the continuation of the fights that have been taking place for a long time already". "And, most likely, it's not the end, not even the peak, and they will lead to the fact that the public and secret intraspecific struggle inside the opposition will continue", said the expert.

The head of the “Gomel Democratic Forum” noted that on the one hand, "There are certain centers of political and near-political forces that are not large and don’t have impact on the society, while having  a big influence on democratic activists". "They have some good information resources and have mastered loud slogans. It is profitable to them to constantly propagate a strategy of permanent boycott, because with such a strategy, their virtual nature is not seen", says Piotr Kuzniatsou.

"The second part of the forces are organizations having ramified structures, certain asset, they try to work directly with people. That is for them that such struggle is disadvantageous, because the boycott will lead to the fact that their structures will also be dissolved. Structures can not exist when they have nothing to do. And they are on the other side, and they are strongly stigmatized", said the representative of the Movement For Freedom.

In his view, "the whole process is most likely to be directed from the outside". "Who is the director and what these actions are for, we can speak only at the level of assumptions. But in the end, everything comes to the result that the opposition is at war with itself. If the classical notion of politics involves the struggle for popular votes and for power, then in Belarus the politics’ activity is a fight with rivals from the opposition camp. No one is capable of actually struggling with the regime for today", said the expert.

According to Gomel activist, "this scenario is profitable, firstly, to the Belarusan authorities, and secondly, paradoxically, to the Russian authorities". "For the Russian government has for a long time been interested in uprooting pro-European, democratic Belarusan opposition and replace it with their own representatives, loyal to the Kremlin", he said.

"And if as a result of this intraspecific competition the opposition structures cease to exist, other structures will come in their place, but having a different scale of values", stressed Piotr Kuzniatsou.