A 30-minute program dedicated the memory of those who perished during World War II was broadcast instead of the TV debates with participation of the head of the Belarusian Popular Front Party Aliaksei Yanukevich.

The reasons were found only after dozens of telephone calls from Vitsebsk spectators, including the candidate Aliaksandr Kuzniatsou, instead of whom Aliaksei Yanukevich took part in the debates as his electioneering agent.

“The broadcast was to have started at 7.00 p.m Only at 7.40 p.m. I received a telephone call from the electoral commission and told that the debates would not be broadcast as the Central Election Commission adopted a ruling according to which electioneering agents who are candidates themselves weren't allowed to appear in the media on behalf of other candidates. However, the recording was conducted yesterday, and the ruling was adopted today. As a rule, laws aren't retroactive, but not in our country. That's why we were proposed to re-record the debates on 7 September. And today the spectators have been cheated,” commented Aliaksandr Kuzniatsou.

Apart from Aliaksei Yanukevich, part in the debates was taken by a present MP Aliaksandr Hrytskevich and an activist of the organizing committee of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party “Hramada” Alena Famina.

“Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”