Lukashenka's Show Falls Flat

The Belarusians ignored the farce.

Natallia Radzina, the Editor-in-Chief of Charter97.org, shared her opinion on the so-called 'elections' in Belarus:

– There were no elections in Belarus today. After all, there have been no real elections in our country for 30 years.

Since 1994, when dictator Lukashenka came to power, there has not been a single free and democratic election campaign in Belarus. All elections, including presidential, parliamentary, and local, as well as referendums, were not acknowledged by the international community, and their results were widely falsified. Thus, the 2025 presidential elections in Belarus cannot be considered an election campaign. Today, this can be compared to elections in a concentration camp: prisoners are forced to 'choose' the camp commander under the threat of armed guards.

After the brutal suppression of the 2020 popular protests, there are no independent media, human rights and public organizations, opposition political parties and movements in Belarus. Massive repression against citizens has been ongoing for five years, with thousands of political prisoners currently held in the country's jails.

The farce Lukashenka refers to as 'elections' this year lacks even the usual setting. No opposition candidates took part in the campaign. The authorities appointed just four decoys, whose complete dependence is entirely evident. Election commissions across the country included only proven and experienced falsifiers. The OSCE/ODIHR observers were not invited, because this time the show turned out to be completely incompetent.

Of course, people were forcibly driven to polling stations. This is evident in the unusually high number of early voters: they drove workers from state-owned enterprises, doctors and teachers, servicemen and law enforcement officers, as well as prisoners in jails and penal colonies.

However, on January 26, it was clear that many Belarusians ignored this farce, as they know their vote won't change anything: dictator Lukashenka will once again fabricate false "support" figures for himself. In fact, the polling stations were almost empty on January 26. Even at the polling station where the dictator personally came to vote, he was listed second on the voter register.

Lukashenka has no real support among Belarusians today, and he is fully aware of this, which is why he orchestrated this entire circus. However, no one fell for the clownery: neither Belarusians nor Western countries, which immediately announced their non-recognition of this farce.

Therefore, today's events are entirely insignificant. What matters is that changes in Belarus could happen at any moment. In 2021, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad claimed over 90% 'support' in similarly fraudulent elections, yet his regime crumbled in just 12 days. I am confident that the same fate awaits Lukashenka. Significant changes are unfolding in our region, and no one will be able to 'freeze' these processes.

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