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Belarus heads to polls to elect next president

  • August 09, 2020

Belarus headed to the polls on Sunday to cast their vote in the country’s presidential elections, with President Alexander Lukashenko pitted against unlikely candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a stay-at-home mother and former teacher.

Voters in face masks were seen arriving at a Minsk polling station, with some wearing white bracelets after Tikhanovskaya asked her supporters to wear them, French news agency AFP reported.

Voting amid crackdown

Tikhanovskaya was tapped to run for the opposition after authorities began a crackdown on opposition figures, including her husband. Lukashenko’s main rival, Viktor Babariko, was jailed over fraud and embezzlement charges and subsequently banned from standing in the election. 

Prominent opposition figure Valery Tsepkalo was also barred from running and fled to Russia over fears of being arrested and stripped of parental rights. 

A 30-year-old make-up artist from Minsk said she had wanted to vote for Babaryko, and accused Lukashenko of clinging to power.

“No one I know will vote for Lukashenko,” she told AFP. 

Belarusian authorities have detained more than 1,000 protesters since election campaigning began in May, according to the human rights group Viasna.

Journalists in Belarus have also been detained in the lead-up to the election, including DW correspondent Alexander Burakov. 

Read more: Svetlana Tikhanovskaya: The teacher challenging Lukashenko — Europe’s last dictator 

Lukashenko and Putin hug (picture-alliance/AP Photo/T. Zenkovich)

Lukashenko (left) is seen as a close ally to Russia’s Vladimir Putin (right)

Europe’s ‘last dictator’

Lukashenko, Europe’s longest-serving leader, is almost certain to win a sixth consecutive term amid an absence of international observers — but analysts say the strongman could be met with a new wave of protests over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the economy, and his human rights record.

Ahead of the vote, Lukashenko warned that dissent would not be tolerated and that he would not give up his “beloved” Belarus.

“We will not give the country to you,” Lukashenko said of his opponents, as he addressed the nation earlier this week.

Lukashenko, 65, is a former Soviet collective farm manager who has ruled since 1994.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya (Imago Images/ITAR-TASS/N. Fedosenko)

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya hopes to end Lukashenko’s decades-long reign in Belarus

An unlikely candidate

Tikhanovskaya, who is running in place of her jailed husband, YouTube blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky, poses as Lukashenko’s greatest challenge yet. 

Tikhanovskaya’s rallies have drawn some of the largest crowds since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Her presidential bid has given rise to an informal new protest movement, with many in the ex-Soviet country calling for Lukashenko to quit.

The 37-year-old, who is from a small southwestern town, has said she has no interest in politics. She has campaigned to remove Lukashenko, free political prisoners — including her husband — and reduce the country’s reliance on Russia. 

Tikhanovskaya has promised to step down within six months to hold a new and free presidential vote, which would allow banned opposition candidates to run for Belarus’ top post. 

mvb/stb (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/belarus-heads-to-polls-to-elect-next-president/a-54500994?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

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