Belarusan opposition party leader may be reelected for second time despite party charter

Current leader of the Belarusan Popular Front (BPF) is expected to seek re-election for the second time despite two-term limit on chairmanship.

This limit means that it isn’t possible to hold the position of party leader more than two times in a row, BelaPAN reports.

During its previous convention, held in September 2011, the BPF amended its charter to impose the two-term limit on party chairmanship.

Nevertheless, the BPF's audit commission announced on August 22, 2013 that Aliaksei Janukevich, the leader of the Belarusan Popular Front (BPF), would be able to run for re-election because he had been elected chairman of the party only once under the new charter.

According to the BPF press office, the party will hold its next convention no later than September 2014.

Mr. Janukevich, currently 37 years of age, was elected to chair the BPF at a September 2009 convention amid allegations that the election was rigged in his favour.

Vincuk Viachorka, who chaired the Belarusan Popular Front between 1999 and 2007, described the election of Mr. Janukevich, an ally of Movement for Freedom leader Aliaksandr Milinkevich, as a "hostile takeover" by forces that wanted to cooperate with Aliaksandr Lukashenka.

Mr. Janukevich was re-elected chairman of the BPF in an uncontested vote on September 10, 2011.