On January 31, BISR held an expert workshop "Party Building in Belarus: Challenges and Risks". The discussion was attended by the deputies of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, experts in social and political sciences, representatives of political parties and BISR analysts.
The participants discussed important issues related to the experiences and perspectives of party building in Belarus and foreign countries, exchanged opinions on the evaluation of the political field of the country, evaluated the legal environment in which the activities of the Belarusian political parties are implemented. The representatives of the political parties of Belarus shared their views on the legislation regulating the party activities.
The interest of the participants was drawn to the presentation by the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Education, Science and Culture of the House of Representatives Igor Marzalyuk, who expressed a full-fledged view on the parliamentary prospects of the political parties, as well as the opinion of the deputy of the House of Representatives Sergei Klishevich about the public associations as having the human resources to complement the existing parties.
During the roundtable discussion the participants agreed on viewing the party building as an evolutionary phenomenon, directly related to the state of the society. In this context, the experts focused on the peculiarities of party-building in post-Soviet countries, including the associated complexities and risks.
Following the event, the participants agreed on the need for a thorough analysis of the possible trajectories of the party systems development in different countries, taking into account the historical, economic and social aspects. The mechanical transfer of foreign party building models to the domestic conditions is not a panacea, guaranteeing a successful result.
The current political system in the country contributes in general to revealing the potential of the political parties. There is no need in the global reconstruction of the existing legislative environment for further development of the activities of the parties. The question of various forms of stimulation of the political parties’ activity remains an important question for the discussion. The condition of the additional impulse for the development of the Belarusian party building is a consensus between the government and the public on the need for these processes.
