Vital Rymasheuski and his supporters have already held a meeting of their BCD wing

On October 17-18, a reporting and election conference of the social-political movement "Belarusian Solidarity/Belarusian Christian Democrats" was held in Warsaw. According to Vital Rymasheuski, over 80 people took part, including representatives of youth and women's organizations. Volha Aleinik, Dzianis Sadouski, Ksenia Paluektava, and Vital Rymasheuski were elected co-chairs. 17 individuals joined the organization's Council.

As Rymasheuski explained to Belsat, his team plans to transform the Christian Democratic movement into a broad social-political organization that will work not only with former party members but also with new activists.

Among the priorities for 2027-2028 are supporting Belarusians within the country and in emigration, protecting their rights, maintaining ties with the EU, and countering Russian hybrid aggression.

Why can't Christian Democrats agree?

Vital Rymasheuski explains the split by a fundamentally different understanding of Christian democracy. He calls his wing more progressive, while the group of Sevyarynets and Dzmitruk he considers religiously conservative.

One of the main disagreements concerns the role of religion in politics.

"We do not believe that the Christianization of Belarusians, or the Belarusization of Christians, is the task of a political party or a social-political movement. That is the task of the church," Rymasheuski stated.

According to him, Christian democracy must remain a non-religious movement, open to people regardless of their faith.

Another stumbling block was gender equality. Over the past four years, Rymasheuski's team has developed a separate platform dedicated to women's rights. Rymasheuski does not rule out that eventually, the two currents will have separate programmatic platforms but will be able to cooperate in joint public campaigns.

Agreement might be signed even before Sevyarynets' congress

Despite the contradictions, Rymasheuski assures that his team does not consider Sevyarynets' associates as competitors. According to the politician, the parties have been conducting intensive negotiations for about two months, and recently the dialogue has become more constructive.

"From our side, there are no conflictual issues. We are currently negotiating for a preliminary cooperation agreement to be signed, perhaps even before the meeting on the 24th, which will be held by Pavel Sevyarynets and Heorhi Dzmitruk," he said.

Next year, Rymasheuski hopes to hold a joint conference and formalize the cooperation between the two wings. They may, however, retain organizational independence. As an example, the politician cites the German Christian Democratic and Christian Social Unions (CDU/CSU), which operate as political partners.

Asked if he would participate in the October 24 congress, Rymasheuski replied that his team would at least send greetings. Personal presence of its representatives is also not ruled out.

Rymasheuski dismisses the idea that two separate meetings might indicate a struggle for leadership within the BCD.

"What political struggle can we talk about today when all Belarusian social and political leaders are abroad?" he asked.

According to him, instead of fighting for positions, democratic forces should address the practical problems of Belarusians. Among the specific tasks he named were issuing travel documents to refugees for three years instead of one, countering discrimination against emigrants, and preserving opportunities for Belarusians to travel and receive education in Europe.

Rymasheuski also emphasized that it is currently impossible to hold a full-fledged party congress with the participation of BCD members who remain in Belarus, so the discussion should primarily focus on the development of the Christian Democratic movement in exile.

Whether the long-standing split can be overcome will be shown by the further development of negotiations.

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