Monthly Archive: March 2005

RESULTS OF THE NATION OPINION POLL CONDUCTED IN MARCH OF 2005

(1516 persons interviewed, margin of error doesn’t exceed 0.03)   1. Compare living standards in Belarus and the neighboring countries. Where is it higher? Variant of answer Higher Same Lower DA/NA Poland 63.1 15.2 2.9 18.8 Latvia 47.6 19.1 6.4 26.9 Lithuania 45.7 20.8 6.2 27.3 Russia 28.9 40.4 15.9 14.8 Ukraine 11.2 30.9 41.6 …

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BULLETINS INFOFOCUS № 3

E-bulletin of IISEPS Center for Documentation, N 3, 2005 (only Russian) Content: Introduction Theme of the month: Klimov’s Revolution: Best Action over Recently or Fight for Seat in Opposition? Person of the month: Anatoly Shumchenko: Leader of Traders or Nation-Scale Politician? Document of the month: Presidential Decree No. 148 “On Urgent Measures for Support of …

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BULLETINS “IISEPS NEWS” N 1 (35) MARCH

IISEPS News, N 1 (35), 2005 Content: Preface Strengthening Pro-“wide Europe” Attitudes in Belarus: January-2005 President’s prospects in Belarus: opinion of the elite “Orange Prospects” in Belarus It all depends on voter’s standpoint Elite no more trusts the authorities, yet it doesn’t believe in changes Integration Prospects: with Europe or with Russia? Does Belarusian economics …

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WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CORRUPTIBILITY IN THE COUNTRY?

Many still remember the notorious report on struggle against corruptibility delivered by A. Lukashenko early 1994 at the session of the Supreme Council. The ‘most corrupted’ official and Speaker of the Parliament S. Shushkevch who, according to A. Lukashenko, ‘stole two kilos of nails’ was condemned and dismissed while the troubled time of perestroika threw to the very top a previously unknown director of a declining state-run farm who became the first president of Belarus.

FRESH NEWS FROM INFORMATION BATTLEFIELDS

One of the pillars that now support the current power is tight control over the information available to the Belarusian citizens. Therefore, common media space of Russia and Belarus as well as superiority of Russian mass media in quality and quantity, especially electronic ones, remained for a long time an implicit threat for A. Lukashenko. The situation sharply changed 2.5-3 years ago.

IS IT THE RIGHT COURSE THAT OUR ECONOMICS GOES?

As the polling data shows, over a third of citizens (33.8%) think that the authorities chose the wrong economic course and another quarter of respondents evades the question. Although the number of supporters of the current economic course is fairly large (41.3%), this cannot serve a ground for the statements about national support of the current economic course that the state-run media make.

HUSH IS DISCREDITING OF AUTHORITIES

Arrest, trial and heavy sentence to former Minister of External Economic Relations of Belarus Mikhail Marinich drew close attention of the foreign community. The European Union, Council of Europe and the USA spoke out in defense of the ex-minister. Within the past weeks, when M. Marinich’s health has sharply aggravated, influential foreign

WHO SAYS TRUTH ABOUT EU COUNTRIES?

According to the statistics, living standard in the new EU countries (Poland, Latvia and Lithuania) is significantly higher than in Belarus. This cannot be denied provided you have proper data, unless we deal with someone else but Belarusian state ideology or with deliberate delusion.

EUROPE – NEARBY AND REMOTE

Although the relations between the official Minsk and the West are below the freezing point for a long time already, attitude of the Belarusians to the West, in particular to the united Europe, is totally positive. Answers of respondents show that nowadays 52.8% of Belarusians want that Belarus joins the EU (against – 44.4%).

ATTITUDE TO VISA SANCTIONS VS. POLITICAL FRAMES OF MIND

Referendum of 2004 in Belarus, namely the “peculiar procedure” of how it was carried, caused resentment in the European Union as well as generated discussion of the European policy towards Belarus, that same stick and the carrot that would in the best way contribute to positive changes in the country. Although, in accordance with Belarusian state-run mass media,