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“Unofficial” Union of Poles in Belarus gets new leader

The Main Council of the “unofficial” Union of Poles in Belarus (UPB) on Saturday voted to elect Andzelika Orechwo as the Warsaw-backed organization’s new chair.

Ms. Orechwo, 36, succeeds Andzelika Borys whose recent decision to step down as the UPB leader surprised both many within the organization and the Polish authorities.

As Igor Bancer, spokesman for the UPB and Mr. Orechwo’s husband, told BelaPAN, Ms. Borys did not attend the Main Council’s meeting in Hrodna and refused to provide any comments regarding her resignation.

Ms. Borys earlier linked her decision to quit to “personal reasons.”

Ms. Orechwo, who had served as the organization’s deputy chair in charge of education for five years prior to the promotion, gained more votes than her only rival and another deputy chair, Meczyslaw Jaskiewicz.

Ms. Orechwo, who is to give birth to her first child later this summer, graduated from Poland’s Lublin University with a degree in Polish linguistics and joined the UPB more than 10 years ago.

In an interview with BelaPAN, the activist admitted to having had reservations about the job. “However, I remember all the difficult events of the last five years that required enormous efforts from me for the sake of the people who have constantly offered warm support to the organization’s leadership. That is why I could not step aside,” she said.

Ms. Orechwo said that the organization’s leadership would consider the subject of obtaining legal status this fall at the earliest.