Ales Michalevic
Ales (Alaksiej) Anatoljevich Michalevic or Mikhalevich, born [May 15|15th May] [1975|1975] in [Minsk|Minsk], Byelorussian SSR – Belarusian public figure and [Politician|politician], 2011 presidential candidate in the [Belarus|Republic of Belarus].
Biography
Ales Michalevic was born in [Minsk|Minsk] to a family of research associates of the [National Academy of Sciences of Belarus|National Academy of Sciences of Belarus] (then Academy of Sciences of the Byelorussian SSR).
Following studies in [Minsk|Minsk] at [Mathematics|mathematics] school No.19 and the [Belarusian Humanities Lyceum|Belarusian Humanities Lyceum], Michalevic attended the [Belarusian State University|Belarusian State University], Faculty of Law, graduating in [1997|1997] with a degree in [Political science|Political Science] and [Law|Law]. While at university, Michalevic headed the Belarusian Students’ Association, a non-governmental organization dedicated to protecting the rights of Belarusian students. Michalevic also undertook periods of study at the [University of Warsaw|University of Warsaw] ([Poland|Poland]) and [University of Oxford|University of Oxford] ([United Kingdom|U.K.]).
After graduation in 1997, Michalevic founded and became the leader of an organization working in the sphere of youth exchanges and youth tourism, thanks to which over 2,000 young people were able to visit the countries of [Western Europe|Western] and [Central Europe|Central Europe].
From 2000, Michalevic worked as Deputy Director and later General Director of the Arkadia [Joint venture|joint venture], which specialized in the sphere of tourist trade. Following the participation of the head of the company in the [Belarusian parliamentary election, 2004|2004 Parliamentary Election], the company itself became the target of numerous state controls and inspections. The seventh inspection prompted Michalevic to leave the position of General Director of the Arkadia [Joint venture|joint venture].
In 2005, Michalevic qualified as a crisis manager accredited at the [Ministry (government department)|Ministry of Economics] of the [Belarus|Republic of Belarus]. In 2007-08 he worked as a legal consultant at the Association of Disabled Veterans of the War in Afghanistan, and in 2008-10 he worked as a lawyer at the Belarusian Independent Trade Union.
Political activities
Michalevic was deputy chairman of the [Partyja BPF|Belarusian Popular Front] party in 2004-08.
Following his nomination to the position of party chairman in 2008 and proposed programme of party reforms, Michalevic was expelled from the party for publicly criticizing the party leaders.
From 2003 to 2007, Michalevic was deputy to the [Pukhavichy|Pukhavichy] district council (Minsk region) and coordinator of the Assembly of Deputies to Local Councils. At the same time he published the Region/Rehijon newspaper (Marjina Horka, Minsk region) and initiated a number of decisions on widening the powers of local self-governing bodies.
On 27 January 2010, Michalevic officially launched his campaign seeking nomination as an independent candidate for the position of [President of Belarus|President of Belarus].
Personal
Ales Michalevic’s interests include rock music ([The Beatles|The Beatles], [The Doors|The Doors], [Deep Purple|Deep Purple]; [DDT (band)|DDT]; [N.R.M.|N.R.M.], Krama, Neuro Dubel (Nejra Dziubel)), historical literature, [Squash (sport)|squash] and [Table tennis|table tennis]. In addition to his native Belarusian and Russian, is fluent in Polish and English and is learning German.
Enlisted reserve of the Belarusian Armed Forces (he did not serve a regular term due to moderate-severe myopia).
Michalevic is married with two daughters.