Articles by Jakub Górnicki

I was waiting for over 15 minutes to take a picture of a “voter voting”, and when the old lady came in I thought she was going to say “No. No pictures. Im not photogenic”. Instead she asked me do I want to take some and  was posing especially for me

Just after the polls will be closed on Sunday evening at 8 pm, opposition is organising demonstration again elections in center of Minsk.

Hanging of above poster is illegal, one can be arrested for that…

One of the election commities on Saturday In Gomel, last day of preliminary elections. Foreign journalist is definetely a big surprise for them, and I guess voters also,  - guard was watching movie from DVD…

Two days before election day, I took a train from Minsk to Gomel. Through the wagons speakers Belarusian radio was broadcasted. Seven women and five men were listening to music. They were reacting to the music, made eye contact.
Until the news started at 7pm. They freezed. Four minutes long, the speaker was talking about elections and candidates. All started looking in the middle of nowhere. No-one blinked positively or negatively. No-one commented. No-one made any body reaction. Nothing. Then the music started again. Everyone came alive again. They shared the joy of music.

Two days berofe Parliamentary Elections 2008. In dictatorship country - love is all around me. In Minsk there are few spots were freshly marriend couples do photo sessions. This is one of many I run into in 45 min

Woman in upper right corner is an opposittion candidate in ofe of the Minsk districts. My guide was explaining me that in one of the shops and I noticed that the teenage girl was carefully listening to us. So when Ira said “The woman is ok, but those three. They are… u know… Lukashenka” - the girl smiled.

Ironically.

The first election comittee I have visitted. Because I arrived to Misnk only an hour before, I didnt’t manage to pick up my official press accreditation. At the beginning they didn’t allow me and my colleagues to take pictures but when some of us showed copy of document, they didn’t see any more problems.

And they were very nice to us. That was first sign of different approach to this elections. Peaceful one. Too peaceful.

Those posters can be found everywhere - on the bus, in shops, in election committies, in hotels - everywhere.

In the background of the first poster one can see magnificent library built by Lukashenka as a gift to Belarusian nation.

Quotes from CIA World Factbook:

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Belarus
conventional short form: Belarus
local long form: Respublika Byelarus’
local short form: Byelarus’
former: Belorussian (Byelorussian) Soviet Socialist Republic

Capitol:
Minsk

Population:
9,685,768 (July 2008 est.)

Independence:
25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)

Constitution:
15 March 1994; revised by national referendum of 24 November 1996 giving the presidency greatly expanded powers and became effective 27 November 1996; revised again 17 October 2004 removing presidential term limits

Government type:
republic in name, although in fact a dictatorship //

//end of quotes

For more see also: Wikipedia page

Although a lot of posts in next few days will touch the topic of Parliamentary Elections 2008 in Belarus please do treat this as a guide about elections.

In this blog I don’t want to concentrate on regular information one gets from media in the election time - statistics, who won, who didn’t, how many violations have occured, Lukashenka did it again. I would like to use this opportunity to show a bit more about this country.

I am experiencing Belarus and it happens to correspond with the time of elections. And I invite you to take this small journey with me.

Jakub