In Belarus, Lukashenko wins another 'sham' election

(CN) — In an election declared illegitimate by the West, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko extended his rule for a seventh consecutive term on Sunday by winning nearly 87% of the vote in presidential elections.

The country’s Central Election Commissionannounced Lukashenko took in 5.1 million votes, or 86.8% of the vote. He faced four challengers, all of them deemed allies of the government. Western governments called it a sham election. He was congratulated by China and Russia on Monday.

Lukashenko, 70, has won every election since 1994 in landslides, making him Europe’s longest serving head of state. Under his regime, he has consolidated power and made Belarus a police state and dictatorship, his critics contend.

By Monday, the capital Minsk and other parts of the country were mostly quiet, a clear sign Lukashenko has succeeded in largelysuppressing the opposition inside the country through police violence, lengthy prison sentences and intimidation.

In 2020, the last time Lukashenko was declared the undisputed winner of presidential elections,mass protests broke out and threatened to topple his regime.

Back then, Lukashenko’s government harshly cracked down on protesters, drawing international condemnation and wide-ranging economic sanctions. The protests were led by three female presidential candidates and there were high hopes in the West that the mass movement might bring down Lukashenko.

But with the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Belarusian police apparatus, Lukashenko crushed the uprising. Since Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine, Belarus has become even closer to Russia and allowed Russian troops to enter Ukraine through its territory.

The United States and the European Union called the election illegitimate. Critics said the existence of opposition candidates in the election was only meant to give the perception of democracy.

Viasna, a Belarusian human rights group, says more than 3,270 people were convicted for taking part in the 2020 protests.

In the run-up to Sunday’s election, Minsk pardoned some political prisoners, while photos and videos of others were published for the first time in months.

Large numbers of Belarusians also fled the country after the crackdown, including Lukashenko’s chief opponent, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who declared herself the winner of the 2020 election.

Tikhanovskaya is the wife of an anti-corruption blogger who was arrested and imprisoned after he jumped into the 2020 presidential race. Her husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky, remains in prison, one of hundreds of opposition figures deemed political prisoners in Belarus. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2021 for organizing riots and inciting social hatred, according to state media.

Since fleeing to Lithuania, Tikhanovskaya has become the leader of Belarus’ opposition and set up a government in exile. She routinely meets with European Union leaders.

In an opinion piece for EUobserver on Monday, Tikhanovskaya denounced Lukashenko as a “dictator” and called Sunday’s election a farce.

“This time, the dictator in Minsk left nothing to chance,” she wrote. “Even the faintest glimmer of dissent was extinguished.”

“No genuine opponents and no independent observers were allowed,” Tikhanovskaya said. “Instead, there was fear — a fear imposed by the baton, the prison cell, and the omnipresent threat of repression.”

She said 12 people on average a day are arrested in Belarus for speaking out against the government, including for expressing support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

She said more than 1,200 people are being held in prisons as “political hostages” in Belarus. She said her husband is being “held incommunicado, and I don’t even know if he is alive.”

She argued that Belarus’ future is “deeply intertwined with the fate of Europe.”

“The fate of Belarus is not a remote or isolated matter,” she wrote. “Our struggle is a fight for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law — values underpinning the European Union.”

She argued the EU cannot feel safe as long as Lukashenko remains in power with Putin’s support.

“It’s in Europe’s interest to drag Belarus out of tyranny and Russian claws,” she said.

The U.S. and the EU have imposed sanctions on Belarus and its leadership and provide aid to the country’s opposition.

In an interview with AFP, the French news agency, prior to the election, Tikhanovskaya urged Belarusians to not take to the streets following Sunday’s election.

“It’s not the moment,” she told AFP. “I really don’t want people to sacrifice their freedom at the moment for nothing, you know, in vain. I ask people to save themselves for a really proper moment … . It will come for sure, and people have to be ready.”

She cited “economic turbulence in Belarus,” a health crisis concerning Lukashenko or the defeat of Russia in Ukraine as possible moments when an uprising might be successful.

Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.

Follow @cainburdeau