The elections of Alexander Lukashenko will be held in Belarus. Four more politicians are supposedly participating in the pseudo-voting, but these people were carefully selected so that they would not compete with Lukashenko. Independent observers, as usual, were not allowed in. Tight control The authorities began to control the situation in the country much more strictly after the events of 2020, when Belarus last held presidential elections and when large-scale protests took place. When it turned out that the Central Election Commission was giving the current president 80% of the votes, a huge number of people took to the streets: these protests became the biggest threat to Lukashenko’s power during his reign. As a result, the demonstrations were brutally suppressed with the help of police, special forces and mass arrests. After this, the European Union refused to recognize the legitimacy of Lukashenko as president. Now all the main opposition leaders of that period are either in prison or were forced to escape abroad, like Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. Former demonstrators who still remain in Belarus are intimidated and forced to remain silent. Therefore, Tikhanovskaya does not call them again to go out on the streets this Sunday. “We call on Belarusians to reject this deception, and the international community to reject the result,” Tikhanovskaya said. - But I want to say to Belarusians: “You must save yourself until the moment when a real chance appears”. Because people live in constant fear, and the regime only enhances repression. " Mass repressions The non-governmental organization BYSOL, which helps evacuate those in danger from Belarus, reports that it has recently received significantly more applications: 30-40 per month. Since 2020, the Fund has evacuated more than 1.5 thousand from the country. Human. BYSOL also supports former political prisoners, helping them build a new life abroad after their release from prison. Law enforcement is looking for evidence of links to banned human rights groups such as Viasna and, if found, could bring charges of “extremism”. The lists of Vasna now include 1256 political prisoners in Belarus.

In the past few months, several dozen of them have been pardoned, but new people soon took their place.. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya believes that the ongoing repressions indicate the fear of Lukashenko and his associates. “The injury of 2020 has not yet healed, and it should exclude any possibility of an uprising,” the opposition leader believes. - He knows that the Belarusians did not accept him and did not forgive him. And that they still want change" But Tikhanovskaya admits that there are no signs of change in the near future.

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