A. Lukashenko demands that proxies avoid excesses in campaigning and thoroughly delve into voters' concerns

30 November, Minsk /BELTA correspondent/. Alexander Lukashenko demands that his proxies avoid excesses in campaigning during the election campaign, thoroughly understand voters' problems, and refrain from making empty promises. He stated this on 29 November at a meeting with proxies, as reported to BELTA by the press service of the Head of State. Alexander Lukashenko noted that the list of his proxies in the current election campaign includes representatives of various professions, but overall, they are people "who know how to talk to the people and are capable of conveying ideas." "The main thing is that you are among those people who stand by the President, implement the President's course in practice, and moreover, you promote this course and are involved in the creation of everything we have in the country today," said the Head of State, addressing the proxies. He emphasized that these people should talk about what has been done in Belarus recently and what needs to be done in the future. "You are simply obliged to defend what has been created; you must, together with me, convey to the masses the plans that we will implement, at least in the next 5 years, if the Belarusian people so will," said the Head of State. At the same time, Alexander Lukashenko warned that there should be no excesses in campaigning. "I would like to draw attention to one aspect of our election campaign: in propaganda, campaigning, and in our efforts to defend everything we have created, there should be no excesses," he said. "If we boast to people one too many times and excessively emphasize what has been done, it will be negative for us. There should be no excesses in anything." The President added that his election program has already been published, and it outlines the priorities and main goals to be achieved in the coming five-year period. At the same time, he stressed that achieving all that is planned is possible only through diligent work.

"In developing this program, I demanded that it be based on one principle: that it be read. This is the kind of program that has resulted: concise, compact," he said. According to the Head of State, not all issues are covered in it, however, the IV All-Belarusian People's Assembly is ahead, at which the development paths of the state for the five-year period, and perhaps for the ten-year period, will be determined in detail. And the election program should become a kind of starting point for communication between trusted representatives and the people. "People should see in you not only supporters of the President, but also people capable of resolving the issues they will raise at meetings," he emphasized, adding that all these appeals will be structured and considered. The President also warned his trusted representatives against making excessive promises to the people: "We must proceed from the realities that exist. We should not promise anything more than what is promised in the program and will be stated at the All-Belarusian People's Assembly. We will have to fulfill all of this." "There can be no populist slogans here, but fortunately, we do not need them either," added Alexander Lukashenko. He also urged his trusted representatives to be absolutely honest and frank in their conversations with people. "There should be no mutual cover-ups. If someone at the local level today disrespects people, does not take any action to solve problems that are on the surface, we must immediately distance ourselves from such leaders," the President emphasized. "These people cannot be protected, they are not our fellow travelers," he added, drawing attention to the fact that power is based on people's trust. Alexander Lukashenko also expressed his opinion regarding other candidates for the presidency. He proposes to create a kind of ideological portrait of alternative presidential candidates to show that there is no difference between them. "We need to outline, to figuratively depict the portrait of alternative candidates. People need to be explained that there is no difference between them. Everything they say is a lie," said the Head of State. "I know all their backgrounds. They all grew from the same root," he added. "They are an alternative to the current government, the white-red-white ones, focused on violent Belarusianization, people with an exclusively pro-Western vector. And these games on Russian keys, on the Russian instrument – it's all to show that they have some kind of difference, and to snatch the maximum number of votes from the current President in this regard," said Alexander Lukashenko. As an example, he cited several points made by opposition presidential candidates. In particular, one of them proposes to change the state's monetary policy in such a way as to equate the Belarusian ruble to the US dollar on a one-to-one basis, but does not specify how he intends to achieve this under current conditions. Another candidate promises to give Russia pipelines and Belarusian oil refineries for free if he wins. "The inadequacy and vulnerability of each of them are obvious," the head of state noted. "But most importantly, we must not allow people to be deceived." "They demanded a live broadcast – they were given it. And today, it's not them, but their closest aides and ideologists who openly state that they wish they hadn't used that live broadcast. They thought great orators would appear on screen, say a couple of words – and the people would rush to vote for them almost tomorrow. It turned out that it's not that simple," said Alexander Lukashenko. In his opinion, "the people see everything." "We must talk about ourselves, more about prospects," he added. Alexander Lukashenko, addressing the head of the republican headquarters of the presidential candidate, Alexander Radkov, asked for a detailed account of the progress of the election campaign and the agitation and propaganda work. He also proposed to raise all problematic issues of the election campaign and discuss them collegially. -0-

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