Belarus erupts as Opp. disputes Prez re-election
■ Opposition alleges that landslide for Lukashenko is result of vote-rigging
Minsk, Aug. 10: The Belarusian Opposition accused President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday of rigging a landslide re-election victory after bloody clashes between police and protesters broke out. The main challenger to Mr Lukashenko has refused to accept that the autocratic President won 80 per cent of the vote in Sunday’s election. “I consider myself the winner of this election,” Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who emerged from obscurity to become his main rival,
said on Monday.
While official results handed Mr Lukashenko, in power for more than a quarter of a century, a huge victory, Ms Tikhanouskaya, took just 9.9 per cent.
Thousands were arrested after protesters and riot police clashed in the capital Minsk and other cities, sparking Western criticism and talk of new sanctions.
A lack of scrutiny — no observers were present — has led to widespread fears of vote-rigging in the polls that were held amid growing frustration at Mr Lukashenko’s leadership.
Foreign observers have not judged an election to be free and fair in Belarus since 1995, and the run-up to the vote saw authorities jail Mr Lukashenko’s rivals and open criminal investigations into others who voiced opposition.
“The authorities are not listening to us. The authorities need to think about peaceful ways to hand over power,” said Ms Tikhanouskaya, a former English teacher who entered the race after her blogger husband was jailed. “Of course we do not recognise the results.”
The Opposition wants a vote recount at polling stations where there were problems, her aides said, adding that protests would continue.
A former Soviet farm manager, Mr Lukashenko has ruled Belarus since 1994.