A famous belarusian blogger left out election race

Author: Mikhail Doroshevich

16/03/2010

Belarusian famous blogger Eugenii Lipkovich has announced that he dropped out election race for a position at the Minsk city council deputies committee.

Lipkovich was gathering signatures to become a deputy candidate for Minsk city Volgogradsky voting district N54. He explained that his campaign had been just an experiment. The blogger planned to check the influence of the Internet, which could possibly become strictly regulated starting from the 1st of June according to the Presidential decree #60.

Lipkovich noted that his video interview in which he had announces his intention to step forth as a deputy candidate "gathered 17 thousand downloads in one day". The initiative group of 10 was formed entirely over the Internet.

However, only 3 of 153 undoubtedly legitimate signatures were gathered via the Internet. "It isn't even a statistical mistake, - Lipkovich noted. - Internet and social networks don't hold any influence whatsoever in our country. Those who prepared decree N60 are really just paranoid people who are afraid of their own shadow".

According to Lipkovich , he paid for the campaign himself "out of his own pocket", and it cost him 191 thousand roubles were spent. Lipkovich noted that there was no pressure from the authorities.

Useful links:

http://lipkovich.livejournal.com

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Information Policy Blog