The Communist Party of Belarus (CPB; russian: Коммунисти́ческая па́ртия Белару́си, Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Belarusi; be, Камуністы́чная па́ртыя Белару́сі, Kamunistyčnaja Partyja Bielarusi) is a

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

and Marxist–Leninist

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. The party was created in 1996 and supports the government of president

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лукашенко, Aleksandr Grigoryevich Luk ...

. The leader of the party is Aliaksiej Sokal. The party has had more seats in the

National Assembly of Belarus The National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Нацыянальны сход Рэспублікі Беларусь, Nacyjanalny schod Respubliki Bielaruś; russian: Национальное собрание Республики Бел ...

than any other party since the

2000 Belarusian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Belarus on 15 October 2000, with further rounds of voting on 29 October, 18 March and 1 April. The vast majority of successful candidates, 94 of 110, were independents.Nohlen & Stöver, p261 Voter turnout was ...

, the first national election it participated in. However, most seats in the Belarusian legislature are held by

independent politician An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

Overview

The party suggested merging with the

Party of Communists of Belarus A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

(PKB) on July 15, 2006. While the Communist Party of Belarus is a pro-presidential party, the Party of Communists of Belarus was one of the major opposition parties in Belarus. According to Sergey Kalyakin, the chairman of the PKB, the so-called "re-unification" of the two parties was a plot designed to oust the opposition PKB. The main foreign policy goal of strengthening the party proclaimed national security through the development of Belarus-Russia

Union State The Union State,; be, Саю́зная дзяржа́ва Расі́і і Белару́сі, Sajuznaja dziaržava Rasii i Bielarusi, links=no. or Union State of Russia and Belarus,; be, Саю́зная дзяржа́ва, Sajuznaja dziar� ...

and the phase reconstruction voluntarily renewed Union nations, strengthening its political and economic independence. The KPB is part of the Union of Communist Parties - Communist Party of the Soviet Union (SKP - KPSS) and the

International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties The International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties (IMCWP) is an annual conference attended by communist and workers' parties from several countries. It originated in 1998 when the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) invited communist a ...

(IMCWP); it enjoys relations with other communist parties in

post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

and throughout the world to a much greater extent than the PKB, which is affiliated with the

Party of the European Left The Party of the European Left (PEL), commonly abbreviated European Left, is a European political party that operates as an association of democratic socialist and communist political parties in the European Union and other European countries. ...

and is considered by many in the region to be "pro-Western." At the 2004 parliamentary election, the KPB obtained 5.99% and 8 out of 110 seats in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, 6 seats in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and even less in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

- where it won 3 seats. Because of the party's support for President Lukashenko, 17 of its members were appointed by him in the country's

upper house An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...

, the

Council of the Republic of Belarus The Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Савет Рэспублікі Нацыянальнага сходу Рэспублікі Беларусь; russian: Совет Республики Наци ...

, in 2012. In 2014, the party increased its representation by obtaining 5 seats. The party improved its result in the 2016 parliamentary elections, where it won 8 seats and then further increased it in the 2019 elections - where it won 11 seats. During the

2020–21 Belarusian protests The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, the Communist Party of Belarus participated in a meeting in support of

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Legislative elections

Party leaders

References

External links

* {{Belarusian political parties 1996 establishments in Belarus Communist parties in Belarus Far-left political parties International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties Neo-Sovietism Political parties established in 1996 Political parties in Belarus Eurosceptic parties