According to surveys of exit polls, the candidate and the incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko would win in the face of Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa.
Belarusians voted in number this Sunday during a presidential tense, an opponent of Alexander Lukashenko as a candidate unexpectedly, which mobilised the crowds in spite of a crackdown on growing. According to the early surveys of exit polls, the outgoing president would be well ahead in the face of Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa with 79.7 per cent of the vote. His opponent is credited 6.8% of the vote.
If the majority of polling stations have closed in 20 hours, some were allowed to remain open because of the crowds. “I hope that the vote will be completed without a hitch, too” in these places, told public television the president of the electoral Commission, Lidia Ermochina.
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a Sign of the tensions, in Minsk, police checks have been put in place and the limited circulation, while armored vehicles, military trucks, police vehicles and water cannons were deployed, according to eyewitnesses and images broadcasted on the social networks. Many sites on the internet, and social networks were difficult to access or cut.
The election on Sunday, expected up to 20 hours, was preceded by a vote anticipated, denounced by the opposition as favoring fraud. Has 16 hours, the turnout was 73.4%. After you have voted, the president of belarus has told that it “would not be loss of control” or “chaos” in the country, while protests were on the rise online. These last days, he has accused mercenaries from the russians, and the opponents prepare for a “massacre”, claims rejected by its opponents, and Russia.
The attorney general, Alexander Koniouk, has warned against any participation in gatherings are not allowed. The main opponent of the president, Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, the ascent of which surprise has galvanized the republic of Belarus, has called for an “election fair” after you have voted.
Bracelets white
The authority has stepped up its efforts to curb the growth of this new policy, which mounted a historic campaign in Belarus, forming a trio with refreshing Véronika Tsepkalo, girlfriend of an exiled opponent, and Maria Kolesnikova, director of the campaign an ex-banker jailed when he wanted to introduce himself.
Saturday, the head of his HEADQUARTERS to campaign, Maria Moroz, was arrested and Maria Kolesnikova briefly arrested. On Sunday, Veronika Tsepkalo has favorite from in Russia. According to the NGO Viasna, more than twenty people were arrested on Sunday, including three journalists of the tv channel independent Russian Dojd. Added to this are nine members of the team Tikhanovskaïa held in recent days, according to his campaign. This English teacher training, 37-year-old, said to hold good in spite of the “fear”, but had to leave his apartment on Saturday for security reasons.
on Sunday, long queues of voters, previously unpublished are formed outside the polling stations. The supporters of the opposition were fitted with bracelets in white, a sign of support to their muse, which has invited them to send photos of their ballots to organize a count independent. Vadim Svichkarev, security officer, 49-year-old, hopes to change after the vote: “It is very difficult not to move forward for 26 years,” he said in reference to the quarter of a century of power to Lukashenka.
Ruthless
Artem, programmer of 33 years, claims to have found the fraud : “In my polling station, there is a participation of close to 100%”. Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa said besides Friday not to have any illusions as to the result, alleging “fraud shameless”. The number of independent observers has been reduced to a minimum.
In this context, many fear that the repression could be further increased in the event of popular opposition. “Knowing the nature ruthless Lukashenko, anyone interested in Belarus will care for the people of belarus in the coming days,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, an analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and a former british ambassador in the ex-soviet republic.
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Before the emergence of Tikhanovskaïa, the main rival of Alexander Lukashenko had been excluded : two are incarcerated, one third is in exile. The three other qualified candidates have not mobilized. Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa has she replaced her husband, Sergei Tikhanovski, a blogger who was jailed in may as he was campaigning. His success is all the more remarkable that Belarus has never seen the emergence of a united opposition and structured.
In case of victory, she promised to release “political prisoners”, and to organize a constitutional reform and new elections. His power scaling is made on a background of growing economic problems, aggravated by tensions with Russia, accused of seeking to vassaliser Belarus, and the response by the controversial Alexander Lukashenko to the épidémie of new coronavirus, which he described as a “psychosis.” Belarus has not organized a ballot deemed free since 1995. On several occasions, protests have been matées by force.
