The Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus (LDPB, , ) is a

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

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 ...

. It was created in 1994 as the Belarusian successor of the Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union. Despite claiming to be a "constructive and democratic opposition" the party ''de facto'' supports the current 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 ...

(much like the

Liberal Democratic Party of Russia LDPR – Liberal Democratic Party of Russia () is a Russian Ultranationalism, ultranationalist and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist List of political parties in Russia, political party. It succeeded the Liberal Democratic Party of the ...

with

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

). In the legislative elections, 13–17 October 2004, the party won 1 out of 110 seats. Its candidate in the presidential election of 2006, Sergei Gaidukevich, won 3.5% of the vote. Party leader Gaidukevich was a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 2004 to 2008. He was later a member of the Council of the Republic from 2016 to 2019.

Ideology

Despite the name, the party does not support

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

liberal democracy Liberal democracy, also called Western-style democracy, or substantive democracy, is a form of government that combines the organization of a democracy with ideas of liberalism, liberal political philosophy. Common elements within a liberal dem ...

. Rather, according to political scientist

Pippa Norris Pippa Norris (born 10 July 1953) is a British American political scientist specializing in comparative politics. She is the McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, and she has served as the ...

, the LDPB is an extremist party, dedicated to the restoration of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and Russian-Belarusian unionism. The party is opposed to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and what it calls "international monopolies". It gathers its main support from ex-servicemen mainly from the time of the

, from nostalgics of the Soviet Union, and those who favor closer ties or even union with

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

; it is especially strong in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

, Vitebsk and some other regional cities. The LDPB has no democratic structure and was run by Sergei Gaidukevich from 1994 to 2019, when he was succeeded by his son Oleg Gaidukevich. Its main domestic ally was the Belarusian Patriotic Party until it was banned in 2023.

Election results

Presidential elections

Legislative elections

References

External links