Parliament Ousts Belarus Leader, Imperils Reforms

The country’s Soviet-era Parliament ousted Belarus’ liberal leader, Stanislav Shushkevich, on Wednesday and appeared to bury any hope of rapid economic reforms and a neutral foreign policy.

Legislators voted 209 to 36 to dismiss Shushkevich, the 59-year-old chairman of Parliament who has waged a virtually single-handed ideological battle against reluctant converts to market economics.

His ouster came two weeks after he received President Clinton’s backing during the U.S. leader’s tour of the former Soviet Union.

Belarus’ conservative prime minister, Vyacheslav Kebich, Shushkevich’s constant rival, survived a vote to oust him. A total of 101 legislators voted for his dismissal and 175 against.

The motion accused both men of corruption. But members of Parliament made it plain that the vote was intended to censure Shushkevich’s support for market reforms and resistance to aligning foreign policy with neighboring Russia.

Conservatives were gleeful over the outcome, but liberals, a small minority in Parliament, said the vote portended the end of Belarus as an entity separate from Russia in the post-Soviet era.

“Belarus’ new pro-Russian leadership will conduct its affairs in such a way as to bring the country into the Russian empire,” said Zenon Poznyak, leader of the Belarussian Popular Front.