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News > Belarus

Belarus: Lukashenko Re-elected President Amidst Social Unrest

  • Re-elected president Alexander Lukashenko at a poll station in Minsk, Belarus, August 9, 2020.

    Re-elected president Alexander Lukashenko at a poll station in Minsk, Belarus, August 9, 2020. | Photo: EFE

Published 9 August 2020
Opinion

The whole election-day was marked by clashes between protesters and the police.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko Sunday was re-elected with 79 percent of the votes, in what has been the most unpredictable elections in the last three decades.

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According to the official poll, the main opposition candidate Svetlana Tijanovskaya received 6.8 percent. However, some local outlets referred that she was ahead of Lukashenko at certain polling stations across the nation.

As announced by the country’s Central Election Commission (CEC), Lukashenko was ahead in five regions

The whole election-day was marked by clashes between protesters and the police. Reports say that most of Minsk had been shut down by law enforcement officials, in an effort to avoid demonstrations.

Earlier in the day, Lukashenko himself issued a warning to the demonstrators, stressing the importance for them to stop the protests.

"If you're going to go against our country, or even in the smallest way try to plunge the country into chaos and destabilize it, you will receive an immediate response from me," he said.

The vote took place in the presence of around 250 international observers and pitted the President against three women: Svetlana Tijanvskaya, Veronika Tsepkalo, and Maria Kolesnikova.

Three other candidates were also running for the presidency: Andrei Dmitriev, co-chairman of the "Tell the Truth" movement; former Lawmaker Anna Kanopatskaya, and the leader of the Social Democrats, Sergei Cherechen.

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