1999 Split and Modern History
In the late 1990s the party's conservative wing under Zianon Pazniak split from the main BPF to found an independent political party - the Conservative Christian Party BPF (Kanservatyŭna-Chryścijanskaja Partyja BNF). The Party claims to be the only true BPF successor and does not recognize the "other" BPF. It also distances itself from the rest of Belarusian opposition and labels them as "regime accomplices".
At the 2004 legislative elections the party was part of the People's Coalition 5 Plus (Narodnaja Kaalicyja Piaciorka Plus), that did not secure any seats. These elections fell according to the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission significantly short of OSCE commitments. Universal principles and constitutionally guaranteed rights of expression, association and assembly were seriously violated, calling into question the Belarusian authorities’ willingness to respect the concept of political competition on a basis of equal treatment. According to this mission, principles of inclusive democratic process, whereby citizens have the right to seek political office without discrimination, candidates to present their views without obstruction, and voters to learn about them and discuss them freely, were largely ignored.
In October 2005 Alaksandar Milinkievič, a candidate proposed by the BPF and The "green" Zialonyja party was elected common democratic candidate for presidential elections to take place in 2006.
In 2007 the party became a member of the International Democrat Union.
During the presidential election 2010 the BPF Party nominated its own candidate for presidency Ryhor Kastusyow, who is the current Deputy Chairman of the BPF Party. According to the official results, he gained 1,97% of the votes, which is quite doubtful, as international observers claimed the elections and the process of vote count to have fallen short of democratic standards.
After the brutal dispersal of the meeting, which took place on December 19, 2010, when more than 600 people were arrested and sentenced to administrative arrests, the BPF Central Office became the center of solidarity with the arrested people.
Read more about this topic: BPF Party
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