The BPF Party (; ) is a banned political party in Belarus. It was de facto established after the split of the social movement Belarusian Popular Front (abbr. BPF; , ) in 1999. The Belarusian Popular Front was founded during the Perestroika era by members of the Belarusian intelligentsia, including Vasil Bykaŭ. Its first and most charismatic leader was Zianon Pazniak.
After a 2005 decree by president Alexander Lukashenko on the restriction of the usage of the words ("Belarusian") and ("National", "Popular", "People's") in the names of political parties and movements,http://pravo.by/webnpa/text_txt.asp?RN=P30500247 О дополнительных мерах по упорядочению использования слов «национальный» и «белорусский» the party had to change its official name to "BPF Party".
Early history
The Belarusian Popular Front was established in 1988 as both a political party and a cultural movement, following the examples of the Popular Front of Estonia, Popular Front of Latvia and the Lithuanian pro-democracy movement Sąjūdis. Membership was declared open to all Belarusian citizens as well as any democratic organization.
Its alleged goals are democracy and independence through national rebirth and rebuilding after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The main idea of the Front was the revival of the national idea, including a revival of the Belarusian language. Initially, its orientation was pro-Western with a great deal of scepticism towards Russia.
The party was in favour of removing Russian as an official language in Belarus. Russian became an official language following the 1995 Belarusian referendum, at the beginning of Lukashenko's rule, when a proposal for making Russian a state language received 83.3% support from the turnout.
Among the significant achievements of the Front was the uncovering of the burial site of Kurapaty near Minsk. The Front claims that the NKVD performed extrajudicial killings there.
Initially, the Front had significant visibility because of its numerous public actions that almost always ended in clashes with police and KGB. It was BPF parliamentarians who convinced the Supreme Council of Belarus (the interim Belarusian parliament) to restore the previously used Belarusian symbols: the white-red-white flag and the Pahonia coat of arms, modelled after the Coat of arms of Lithuania. During Soviet-times people faced arrest in the streets for displaying white-red-white symbols in Belarus.
In 1994 the BPF formed a so-called "shadow" cabinet consisting of 100 BPF intellectuals. Its first Prime Minister was . It originally contained 18 commissions that published ideas and proposed laws and plans for restructuring the government and economy. Its last economic reform proposal was published in 1999. In opposition to Alexander Lukashenko's government, the party supports Belarus' entry into NATO and the European Union.
1999 split
In the late 1990s, the Popular Front split into two parties, both of which claim to be the legitimate continuation of the original BPF. The party's conservative wing under Zianon Pazniak became the Conservative Christian Party – BPF () while the moderate majority became today's BPF Party.
Modern history, participation in elections At the 2004 legislative election the party was part of the People's Coalition 5 Plus (Narodnaja Kaalicyja Piaciorka Plus), which did not secure any seats. These elections fell (according to the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission) significantly short of OSCE commitments. Universal principles and constitutionally guaranteed rights of expression, association and assembly were seriously violated, calling into question the Belarusian authorities’ willingness to respect the concept of political competition on a basis of equal treatment. According to this mission, the principles of an inclusive democratic process, whereby citizens have the right to seek political office without discrimination, candidates to present their views without obstruction, and voters to learn about them and discuss them freely, were largely ignored.
In October 2005 Alaksandar Milinkievič, a candidate proposed by the BPF and Zialonyja (Belarusian Green Party) was elected the common democratic candidate for the 2006 Presidential election.
During the 2010 presidential election the BPF Party nominated its own candidate for the presidency, Ryhor Kastusiou, who was then the Deputy Chairman of the BPF Party. According to the official results, he gained 1.97% of the votes.
In 2011, following an internal conflict, more than 90 further members left BPF Party, including several prominent veterans of the original Belarusian Popular Front, such as Lyavon Barshchewski, Jury Chadyka, Vincuk Viačorka. This was sometimes described as a "second split" of the Belarusian Popular Front.
In the Congress in September 2017, the new party leader Ryhor Kastusioŭ has been elected. The Congress decided also to nominate Alaksiej Janukievič and Belarusian-American attorney to the presidential office in the next elections. The final decision about the only candidate has to be made in the future.
On 12 April 2021, Kastusiou was reported to have been arrested by the Belarusian KGB as part of its crackdown on protestors following the results of the 2020 Belarusian presidential election. Officially Kastusiou and BPF members were accused of trying to organise an illegal coup (in which president Alexander Lukashenko was to be assassinated); the Russian FSB together with the KGB have claimed their arrests did prevent the coup to happen. One of the defendants in the "assassination attempt on Lukashenko" case is seeking refugee status in Ukraine, Ukrayinska Pravda (6 May 2021) On 5 September 2022, Kastusiou was sentenced to 10 years in jail by the Minsk Regional Court.
On 14 August 2023 the BPF Party was banned by the Supreme Court of Belarus.Вярхоўны Суд зліквідаваў Партыю БНФ
Presidential elections ElectionCandidateFirst roundSecond roundResultVotes%Votes%1994757,195Lost 1999Zianon PazniakNo winner announced2001965,261Lost 2006405,486Lost 2010126,999Lost 2015 Did not contest2020 Not admitted to the elections
Legislative elections ElectionLeaderPerformanceRankGovernmentVotes%+/–Seats+/–1995Zianon PazniakNew17th2000Vincuk ViačorkaDid not contest2004200,033New 0 5th2008Lyavon Barshchewski72,770 1.98 0 5th2012Alaksiej Janukievich2,789 1.30 0 8th201688,511 1.67 0 6th2019Ryhor Kastusioŭ82,403 0.16 0 7th
International relations The party became an associate member of the International Democracy Union in 2007.
It was an observer member of the European People's Party until 2017. Since 7 April 2017 the party is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe. Its youth wing, BPF Youth, is a member of the European Young Conservatives.
Chairman 2021–Current Vadzim Sarančukoŭ 2017–2021: Ryhor Kastusioŭ 2009–2017: Alaksiej Janukievich 2007–2009: Lyavon Barshchewski"Belarusian Popular Front elects new chairman" 1999–2007: Vincuk Viačorka
See also Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic - the Belarusian government in exile Conservative Christian Party – BPF
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