MINSK (Reuters) – Belarus has begun voting in a presidential election on Sunday against Alexander Lukashenko, a former teacher who emerged from obscurity to face the biggest challenge in years against the man who was once “the last dictator of Europe “was named by Washington.
A woman wearing a protective face mask stands in a polling station during the presidential election in Minsk, Belarus, August 9, 2020. REUTERS / Vasily Fedosenko
The 65-year-old Lukashenko wins nearly a sixth consecutive term, but could face a new wave of protests amid anger over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy and his human rights record.
An ongoing crackdown on the opposition could jeopardize Lukashenko’s attempts to restore ties with the West amid fragile ties with traditional ally Russia, which has sought to push Belarus into closer economic and political union.
A former Soviet collective farm manager, Lukashenko has ruled since 1994.
He faces off against a surprise rival in Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, a former English teacher who entered the race after her husband, an anti-government blogger who intended to run, was jailed.
Their rallies have attracted some of the largest crowds since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Human rights groups say more than 1,300 people have been trapped in a growing collapse.
Foreign observers have not judged an election in Belarus for a quarter of a century for free and fair. Despite an election commission’s ban on the opposition holding an alternative ballot, Tikhanouskaya urges her supporters to check polling stations.
“We are in the majority and we do not need blood on the streets of the city,” she said Saturday. “Let us defend our right to vote together.”
Lukashenko describes himself as a guarantor of stability and says the opposition protesters are in cahoots with foreign supporters, including a group of 33 suspected Russian monsters arrested in July and accused of “plot of terrorism”.
Analysts said their detention could be used as a precaution for a sharper collapse after the vote.
“Lukashenko a priori has made it clear that he intends to maintain his power at all costs. The question remains what the price will be, “said political analyst Alexander Klaskovsky.
Written by Matthias Williams; Edited by Christina Fincher and William Mallard
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