Belarusian Social Democratic Party Narodnaya Hramada (BSDP NH)
Leader: Mikola Statkevich
The BSDP NH calls itself the successor of the Belarusian Socialist Hramada, which was founded in 1903. The Belarusian Socialist Hramada played a crucial role in the formation of the short-lived Belarusian People's Republic in 1918. The party was re-established in March 1991. Since then it has been plagued by internal conflicts. Mikola Statkevich has chaired the party since 1995 and has been arrested several times for his actions against the Lukashenka government.
The BSDP-NH demands a democratic, legal, and social state, and favours European Council and European Union membership for Belarus. One of the party’s priorities traditionally is the defence and the revival of national values. Today, the BSDP-NH programme wants to adapt ’classical values of European Social Democracy’ to Belarusian standards. It wants a social market economy and privatisation of small and medium businesses, but wants to keep railways and utilities in government hands. According to the BSDP-NH, the medical care, the pension system, and education need to be reformed on a step-by-step basis.
The party used to be a member of the Consultative Council of Parties, but under the leadership of Mikola Statkevich left the council when it decided to participate in the 2000 elections, while other opposition parties organised a boycott. In 2003 the BDSP-NH became the leading party of the European Coalition “Free Belarus”.
The BSDP-NH experienced some major changes in 2005. Internal conflicts led to a split in the party. The vice-chairmen of the party - Vladimir Nistyuk, Vitaly Malashko and Yury Markovsky accused party leader Statkevich of acting in violation of the party’s charter and held separate talks on the creation of a united social democratic party. They went to the Ministry of Justice, to get support for their act and Mr. Nistyuk, was appointed as interim chairman of the party which also claims to be the one and only rightful BSDP.
On 22 March 2005 a formal charge was brought against Statkevich over the street protests that were sparked by the internationally criticized 2004 parliamentary elections and referendum. The criminal proceedings were instituted under the Criminal Code’s Article 342 that carries punishment for “the organization of group actions disturbing public peace or active participation in them.” Mr. Statkevich was sentenced to three years in corrective labour camp. Later, this was reduced to two years. Statkevich was released on 22 May 2007. In 2010 he was among the democratic presidential candidates. After the violent crash of the opposition demonstration Statkevich was arrested and sent to prison again. On May 26, 2011, he was sentenced to six years in a maximum security penal colony.
Since the split of the party, the party is without registration and office, which makes it hard to operate effectively. Despite internal party disagreements, the BDSP-NH ran the 2012 parliamentary elections, but did not manage to enter parliament.
The BSDP-NH has a consultative status with the SI.
