EU condemns ‘state violence’ as Lukashenko accused of rigging poll

THE opposition in Belarus yesterday accused Alexander Lukashenko, the president, of rigging a landslide re-election victory after violent clashes between police and protesters led to condemnation from European leaders.

Scores were injured and up to 3,000 were detained when police on Sunday night suppressed demonstrations with tear gas, water cannon and stun grenades after an exit poll pointed to Mr Lukashenko’s apparently convincing victory. There were unconfirmed reports of a protester dying in Minsk.

Official results gave Mr Lukashenko, in power for more than a quarter of a century, an 80 per cent share of the vote in Sunday’s election, while Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who emerged from obscurity to become his main rival, took just 9.9 per cent. But Mrs

Tikhanovskaya, 37, a former teacher who entered the race only after her blogger husband was one of three potential opposition candidates jailed in the run-up to the poll, refused to back down. She said she considered herself the winner, and that the poll had been massively rigged.

Mrs Tikhanovskaya, whose rallies drew the biggest political crowds since the fall of the Soviet Union, said: “The authorities need to think about peaceful ways to hand over power. Of course we do not recognise the results.”

The opposition now wants a recount at polling stations where there were problems, Mrs Tikhanovskaya’s aides said. Local media also reported a partial strike at a steel plant in protest against Mr Lukashenko. The plant’s management has not commented.

But Mr Lukashenko, 65, dubbed Europe’s last dictator, made it clear he had no plans to step aside. He threatened tough action against demonstrators, and told the Belta news agency: “The response will be appropriate. We won’t allow the country to be torn apart.”

He claimed that shadowy forces abroad were trying to manipulate protesters in order to topple him.

Mr Lukashenko, citing neighbouring Poland and the Czech Republic, said: “They are trying to orchestrate mayhem. But I have already warned: there will be no revolution.” Foreign observers have not judged an election to be free and fair in Belarus since Mr Lukashenko was first elected 26 years ago. The EU condemned “disproportionate and unacceptable state violence against peaceful protesters”.

Germany went a step further. It called for sanctions against Belarus, lifted in 2016 in an effort to foster better relations, to be re-imposed.