Lukashenko seeks seventh term amidst "no‑choice elections"
At 8 AM in Belarus, the main day of voting organized by the regime began, where Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for 31 years, aims for his seventh term in office. The opposition calls this voting "no-choice elections" due to the absence of real opponents and any chance for a democratic process.
Formally, five candidates are in the presidential race, but all, except for the leader who has remained unchanged for three decades, are participating in a nominal capacity. Among these "candidates" are leaders of pro-regime parties and Hanna Kanapatskaya, a former member of the now-dissolved opposition United Civic Party (AHP).
Belarusians can vote until 8 PM, but no polling stations have been opened abroad.
The Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya stated that neither Belarusians nor the international community will recognize the results of Sunday's "elections." The European Parliament called in a resolution for the EU and member states to continue not recognizing Lukashenko as president after the "elections," which it deemed a "sham."
He'll reappoint himself in yet another sham election. This is a blatant affront to democracy, declared the head of EU diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, on Saturday.
Kallas, the former Prime Minister of Estonia and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security since December 2024, emphasized in her post on X dedicated to Belarus that Lukashenko has been in power for 30 years.
She stressed that on Sunday, "he nominates himself for president in subsequent rigged elections." - This is a blatant affront to democracy. Lukashenko doesn't have any legitimacy - she added.
According to Belarusian electoral law, early voting started a few days before the main day of voting. Regime media report extraordinary citizen activity, claiming they "have gained immunity to destructive influences" and "agree on the direction the country should take."
Demonstrations and arrests after the 2020 elections
In 2020, despite the elimination of main opposition contenders through arrests and staged criminal cases - Siarhei Tsikhanouski and Viktar Babaryka (currently serving sentences), the elections became an opportunity to demonstrate mass protest against Lukashenko.
At that time, the Belarusian leader, according to experts, underestimated the scale of social discontent and allowed Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to run in the elections. Propaganda labeled her a "housewife" and a "cutlet fairy," attempting to demean her in the eyes of voters. Despite this, according to the opposition and independent calculations (the real results were never disclosed), Tsikhanouskaya won the elections. When Lukashenko was declared the winner with 81 percent, Belarusians took to the streets en masse.
The brutal suppression of protests and severe political repression, unprecedented even for Belarus, led to the destruction or emigration of the political opposition, media, organizations, and social activists, with thousands imprisoned. As human rights defenders report, this repression continues even after five years, with 1,256 people currently in prison "for political reasons" (which is not the full count).
After the campaign and brutal reprisals of 2020, Western countries decided not to recognize the officially announced election results, and Lukashenko has not been recognized as the legitimate head of state since then. The West maintains contacts with the Belarusian opposition in exile, but its real influence and impact on the situation in Belarus remain minimal.
