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The current election result is likely to be challenged by the opposition.
Police arrested independent election observers and reporters on Sunday and there were reports of internet blockages and difficulty in accessing news websites. People also film large numbers of troops moving to the capital; the main roads entering Minsk were blocked on Sunday, and the city was full of riot police and the army.
In her campaign, Tikhanovskaya had called for a clean ballot, and warned the opposition against early voting – traditionally used for ballot papers. Lukashenko has built his regime on a close alliance with the security forces and government elites, along with the use of force to alert potential opponents.
Tikhanovskaya went into hiding Saturday night, and came up on Sunday to cast her vote.
Veronika Tsepkalo, one of the allies of Tikhanovskya’s campaign, fled to Russia for the vote. Her husband, Valery Tsepkalo, a former ambassador to the United States and a potential presidential candidate, was forced to flee to Russia last month. Another ally, Maria Kolesnikova, was briefly arrested on Saturday.
During the election campaign, Minsk and other Belarusian cities saw spontaneous protests, with police force of cyclists and horn-breaking drivers.
After casting his ballot, Lukashenko said he did not respond to large-scale protests.
“I think they will calm down tomorrow and understand that everyone lives only once,” he said.
Ahead of the election, Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, warned of the government’s ‘unacceptable’ restrictions on media and assembly freedoms, as well as “detention of peaceful Protestants, domestic observers, journalists and activists.”
“The EU calls on the Belarussian authorities to ensure the full exercise of the candidates’ political rights, to use force against peaceful Protestants, to refrain from further detention of election observers, peaceful Protestants, candidates and members of their teams. and immediately detain all released activists, human rights defenders, bloggers and journalists on political grounds, “he said.
