The Belarusian Social Democratic Party (People's Assembly) (; ) is an unregistered

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

that opposes the administration of President

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (also transliterated as Alyaksandr Ryhoravich Lukashenka; born 30 August 1954) is a Belarusian politician who has been the first and only president of Belarus since the office's establishment in 1994, making hi ...

. The party is a full member of the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

History

The BSDP (People's Assembly) was established in March 1991. It calls itself the successor of the ''Belarusian Socialist Hramada'', which was founded in 1903. The party was left unregistered in 2004, when the government claimed that the reelection of party leader Mikalay Statkevich had been conducted illegally. Some party members then formed the

Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Assembly) The Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Assembly) (, Łacinka: ''Bielaruskaja sacyjal-demakratyčnaja partyja (Hramada)''; ) is a banned social-democratic political party in Belarus that opposes the government of president Alexander Lukashenko ...

, which was registered. In

legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

held between October 13–17, 2004, the party did not secure any seats. On May 31, 2020, the party's leader Mikola Statkevich was arrested on his way to a rally where signatures for Svetlana Tikhanovskaya were being gathered. He was sentenced to 15 days for participating in an unsanctioned protest. This sentence was extended two more times, and he was tried again on June 29 for organizing unrest.

Viasna Human Rights Centre The Viasna Human Rights Centre () is a human rights in Belarus, human rights organization based in Minsk, Belarus. The organization aims to provide financial and legal assistance to political prisoners and their families, and was founded in 1996 ...

called the accusations politically motivated and demanded the immediate release of Statkevich. On December 14, 2021, Statkevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Along with him, Ihar Losik,

Sergei Tikhanovsky Sergei Leonidovich Tikhanovsky (born 18 August 1978) is a Belarusian YouTuber, Vlog, video blogger, Belarusian opposition, opposition leader and Democracy promotion, pro-democracy activist. He is primarily known for his activism against the gov ...

and three other political prisoners were also sentenced. Throughout the 565 days he has spent in detention, Statkevich was not allowed to get access to legal representation or defence and he has been denied all contact with his family.

Electoral results

Legislative elections

References

1996 establishments in Belarus Full member parties of the Socialist International Banned socialist parties Banned political parties in Belarus Political parties established in 1996 Social democratic parties in Belarus {{Europe-socialist-party-stub

History

Electoral results

Legislative elections

See also

References