The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, declared this Sunday February 25 that he would run for his own succession next year.
An announcement made on the day of legislative elections described as a sham election by an opposition in exile and bloodless after years of repression.
“Tell them all that I am going to run”
in 2025, he said, after voting, the one who has been in charge of the country since 1994, according to the Telegram channel managed by his team.
More than 1,400 political prisoners
After his much-maligned re-election in 2020, the Belarusian leader cracked down on unprecedented opposition protests, throwing hundreds in prison and forcing thousands into exile.
No opposition was able to participate in Sunday's legislative elections.
Its exiled leaders called on the population to boycott the vote.
Alexander Lukashenko also stressed that the authorities had learned the lessons of 2020 and assured that there would be
“no rebellions”
on Sunday.
In January, the Belarusian authorities again increased raids targeting relatives of opponents and political prisoners, according to human rights movements.
The NGO Viasna, whose founder and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski is serving a ten-year prison sentence, lists 1,419 political prisoners in the country.
Exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, whose husband is in prison, called Sunday's vote a sham election.
“Let's be clear, the regime's attempt to use these sham elections to legitimize itself is doomed to failure
,” she said in an online video.
Russia's main ally
The United States also denounced a
“sham legislative election”
.
“It is impossible to hold a free and fair vote in a climate of fear and with more than 1,400 political prisoners
,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on X.
Belarus, under Western sanctions, is largely isolated on the international scene, but it is Russia's main ally, having even lent it its territory in February 2022 to enable the assault on Ukraine.
“We will always be with Russia
,” insisted Alexander Lukashenko, who depends on the political and economic support of the Kremlin.