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Belarusian Popular Front's presidential nominee calls for broad use of Belarusian in presidential campaign

The Belarusian Popular Front's presidential nominee Ryhor Kastusyow has called for a broad use of the Belarusian language in the forthcoming presidential campaign, as quoted by BelaPAN.

Copies of Mr. Kastusyow's appeal have been sent to all potential candidates who have announced their bids, as well as to the central election commission.

In the appeal, Mr. Kastusyow urges the central election commission to make more documents available not only in Russian but also in Belarusian.

It is very good that local election commissions use Belarusian-language forms, but it would be even better if all documents, including the central election commission's directives and explanations, were published in Belarusian, Mr. Kastusyow says. "This political body does not have the right to give the Belarusian language a secondary role in its work," he says.

Mr. Kastusyow urges all presidential hopefuls to make Belarusian the language of their campaigns. This would be the best proof of the sincerity of the politicians' claims that they seek to serve the people, he says.

"Such a step would allow certain politicians to shed the labels of being pro-Russian or pro-European, because, clearly, only a Belarusian politician can speak Belarusian."

The Belarusian Popular Front will use only the Belarusian language while campaigning, Mr. Kastusyow says.