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Shushkevich calls for boycott of local elections

Stanislav Shushkevich, chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Hramada, called on the country's opposition groups to boycott the forthcoming election for the local soviets of deputies.

He made the call at a meeting of the Political Council of united opposition forces on Friday.

The 71-year-old politician said that the country's opposition should stop "bringing grist to the regime's mill" and drop plans to run in the elections.

The bill of amendments to the Electoral Code that has passed the national legislature this week makes opposition activists' chances slim, he said. "Only fools can participate in these elections," stressed Dr. Shushkevich, Belarus' formal head of state between 1991 and 1994.

Other opposition politicians present at the meeting opposed the call, saying that opposition activists should use the campaign to reach voters.

The Political Council earlier agreed that the campaign also might be used for nominating delegates to the second Congress of Pro-democratic Forces. It said that those opposition activists who would collect 300 signatures among voters should take part in the forum. //BelaPAN