Belarus’s top opposition leader has fled the country after discussing the results of the presidential election and the afternoon of a police raid on those protesting authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is now “safe” in Lithuania, Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius sei Tuesday.
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The 37-year-old former English teacher had abdicated the official results of Sunday’s election, giving Lukashenko, who first led the ex-Soviet nation in 1994, a sixth term with 80%. of the votes, while Tsikhanouskaya received 10%.
We do not agree (the election results); we have absolutely opposite information, “Tsikhanouskaya told the Associated Press on Monday. “We have official protocols from many polling stations, where the number of votes in my favor is many more times than for another candidate.”
After submitting her formal request for a repeat to the Central Election Commission of Belarus, Tsikhanouskaya addressed her supporters in a video message.
She said: “I have made a decision, I have to be with my children,” which she had previously sent to an undisclosed European country after receiving threats.
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko walks after voting at a polling station with a Belarusian national flag on the left, during the presidential election in Minsk, Belarus, on Sunday, August 9, 2020. (AP Photo / Sergei Grits)
Tsikhanouskaya was driven into the political arena without prior experience. She entered the race after her husband, an opposition blogger who had hoped to run for president, was arrested in May.
It has managed to unite fractured opposition groups and draw tens of thousands to its campaign rallies – the largest opposition demonstration in Belarus since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
POLICE, PROTESTERS CLASSIFIED BY WITRUS PRESIDENTIAL VOTE
Thousands of opposition supporters protested the election results for two straight nights in various Belarusian cities, even after rumors circulated that Tsikhanouskaya was leaving the country.
Lukashenko mocked the opposition as “sheep” manipulated by foreign masters and promised to continue the heavy attack on protests despite Western rebukes.
Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck. Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck. (AP Photo / Sergei Grits)
A protester died Monday amid clashes in Minsk and scores were injured when police used tear gas, flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters. Interior Ministry spokesman Alexander Lastovsky said the victim intended to throw an explosive device but that it blew into his hand and killed him.
The police’s crackdown on Protestants drew harsh criticism from the European Union and the United States and will likely complicate Lukashenko’s attempts to mediate ties with the West amid tensions with its main ally and sponsor, Russia.
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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the election was not “free and fair”, adding: “We strongly condemn the ongoing violence against Protestants and the detention of opposition leaders.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
