As of: February 25, 2024, 6:33 p.m
By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi
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Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
(Archive image) © IMAGO/Eibner press photo/EXPA/Slovencik
In Belarus, the population is electing a new parliament.
There is no real opposition.
Tichanowskaja, who was driven into exile, sees a “hoax”.
Minsk – Four years after the internationally heavily criticized presidential election, a new parliament will be elected in Belarus on Sunday (February 25).
It is the first nationwide vote since the violent suppression of mass protests against the controversial re-election of ruler Alexander Lukashenko in 2020. The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell spoke in January of a “wave of repression” in the Eastern European country.
Elections in Belarus: Opposition politician sees “hoax”
Presidential candidate Svetlana Tichanovskaya, who was driven into exile by ruler Lukashenko, has now called for a boycott of the country's parliamentary and local elections.
“I call on Belarusians and the international community to categorically reject this hoax,” she wrote on the X (formerly Twitter) platform.
In addition to 110 members of parliament, around 12,000 representatives from local assemblies will be re-elected in Sunday's vote.
In her video speech, which was held in English, Tichanowskaja sharply criticized the vote.
The so-called election campaign does not correspond to democratic principles in any way.
Opposition parties and independent media were silenced.
Opposition candidates are not allowed to take part in the election.
“Many are being held as political prisoners.” In addition, half a million voters have been driven out of the country and thus deprived of their right to vote, Tichanowskaya added.
She asked the international community not to recognize the vote as legitimate.
Elections in Belarus 2024: Lukashenko does not allow opposition
The 2024 elections in Belarus are considered unfree and manipulated.
According to official information, 41.71 percent of voters in Belarus had cast their votes before the polling stations opened in the morning.
Postal voting has been a popular tool for long-term ruler Lukashenko's power apparatus for years in order to achieve the desired results without any possibility of verification.
He recently accused the opposition of a “coup” plan.
According to observers, his main aim is to show that he is in full control after the protests three and a half years ago.
Lukashenko was correspondingly self-confident.
When voting in the morning, the head of state announced that he would run again in the next presidential elections in 2025.
Lukashenko has ruled Belarus in an authoritarian manner since 1994.
The 2020 election, when he was declared the winner, was followed by months of demonstrations in the country.
The opposition declared Tikhanovskaya the actual election winner, but Lukashenko suppressed the protests in a bloody manner.
The EU did not recognize Lukashenko's election victory.
Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with a hard hand since 1994.
After the violent suppression of mass protests four years ago, tens of thousands of people went into exile, and any opposition in Belarus is massively suppressed.
According to the human rights organization Vyasna, there are currently more than 1,400 political prisoners in prison in Belarus.
The former Soviet republic is increasingly isolated internationally because of its support for Russia's military offensive in Ukraine.
(bb/dpa/AFP)