Belarusian Party "Belaya Rus"
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|---|---|
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| Abbreviation | PBR[1] |
| Chairman | Oleg Romanov |
| Founded | 17 November 2007 (2007-11-17) (public association) 18 March 2023 (as a political party) |
| Headquarters | 5th Building, Frunze Street,Minsk |
| Membership(2023) | 15,948 |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre |
| National affiliation | Republican Coordinating Council |
| International affiliation | For the Freedom of Nations! |
| Colours | Green Red |
| House of Representatives | 51 / 110 |
| Council of the Republic | 46 / 64 |
| Website | |
| partiya 1br | |
TheBelarusian Party "Belaya Rus",[a] or simplyBelaya Rus,[b] is acentrist political party inBelarus. It supports the policies ofAlexander Lukashenko, the first and only president ofpost-Soviet Belarus.
The Belaya Rus party originates from theRepublican Public Association "Belaya Rus" (abbr.RPA "Belaya Rus"),[c] founded in 2007 to support Lukashenko's presidency. While the association had previously been involved in elections and parliamentary activities, it has never been registered as a political party. In 2023, the membership of RPA "Belaya Rus" voted to create a new, separate political party alongside the association.
The founding congress of RPA "Belaya Rus" was held inGrodno on 17 November 2007 and attended by 470 delegates who elected a chair and leadership council with 85 members.[2]Alexander Radkov, the then education minister of Belarus, was elected as chairman.[2] RPA "Belaya Rus" was subsequently registered with the Belarusian authorities as a public association on 12 December.[2][3]
RPA "Belaya Rus" held its first congress on 25 October 2008. A total of 380 delegates representing 82,000 members discussed and ultimately approved an organisational program.[2]
On 19 January 2018, RPA "Belaya Rus" held a major congress in which domestic political analysts expected it to announce plans to register as a political party.[4] Commentators noted that, since the association's inception, it had been focused on electoral and parliamentary participation. At the time of the congress, civil servants made up a majority of the association's membership.[4] The association, however, did not announce a change in its legal status. Instead, a delegation of 500 people representing 178,000 members met in theNational Library of Belarus in the capitalMinsk and electedGennady Davydko, the then head ofBelteleradio, as their new chairman.[4][5]
At its fourth congress on 18 June 2022, delegates electedOleg Romanov, then rector ofSaint Euphrosyne Polotsk State University, as its chairman.[6]
RPA "Belaya Rus" held a congress on 18 March 2023, in which a thousand delegates voted to create a new political party. The Belarusian Party "Belaya Rus", or simply Belaya Rus, was subsequently established, with the leadership council unanimously approving the continuance of Romanov's chairmanship.[7][8][9]Grigory Azarenok, a popular pro-Lukashenko TV presenter, was also elected to the party's leadership council.[8][9]United Russia, the ruling party of Russia, expressed its support for the new party and invited its members to partake in interparty meetings.[7][8]
In the2024 Belarusian parliamentary election, the party won 46.4% of the popular vote and 51 seats in theHouse of Representatives.[10]
Belaya Rus supports thepresidency ofAlexander Lukashenko, who has been the country's first and only president since 1994. At its inaugural party congress, Belaya Rus described itself as "an association of supporters of the first president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, which seeks to preserve and develop his ideas and principles of building a sovereign Belarusian state".[9] The party is alsopro-Russia and has stated Belarusianenergy independence as one of its long-term goals.[8][9]
Germancivil lawyer Wolfram Nordsieck describes the party ascentrist,statist, andagrarianist.[11][better source needed] TheCarnegie Endowment for International Peace described the party as "relatively centrist".[12]
RPA "Belaya Rus" is the largest Belarusian public association by membership. It self-reported a membership of over 82,000 at its first congress on 25 October 2008.[2] The association reportedly gave out its 100,000th membership card on 28 June 2010.[2] RPA "Belaya Rus" claimed a membership of 178,000 at its congress held on 19 January 2018.[4]
The Belaya Rus party reported an inaugural membership of 15,948 people at its founding congress.[7] However, at the same time, RPA "Belaya Rus" had about 200,000 association members, most of whom had not yet officially registered as party members.[8]
| Election | Candidate | First round | Second round | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
| 2025 | SupportedAlexander Lukashenko | 5,136,293 | 86.82% | — | Won | |
| Election | Leader | Performance | Rank | Government | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | ||||
| 2024 | Oleg Romanov | 2,343,664 | 46.40% | New | 51 / 110 | New | 1st | Majority |
Of fifteen parties, just four remained: the relatively centrist ruling party Belaya Rus ...
(in Russian)