Lukashenko Wins Elections in Belarus and Rejects Fraud Claims
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko got reelected for a fourth term in the office, by 79.7% of votes in favor, against the background of serious accusations regarding the transparency of the ballot, voiced by both inner opposition and the international community.
Lukashenko was declared the winner after the riot police had to quiet some 20,000 people gathered on Sunday in the Independence Square in Minsk to protest the abusive election process.
Reports are that many were beaten and four of the nine presidential candidates were arrested.
According to the president 639 people were detained and many of them are looking at up to 15 years in prison for creating disturbances in the capital of the state.
After the crackdown on Sunday night no sign of revival of the protest could have been seen the next day.
Still, the international community voiced its concern about the way the president was elected.
The White House said it could not accept the elections as legitimate, and that the excessive use of force is a step back Belarus is taking in the mutual relation with the United States.
European Union top diplomat Catherine Ashton asked for the immediate release of the opposition candidates, while EU members Poland and Lithuania, who had plans to bring Belarus out of the influence sphere of Kremlin through financial aid, in case the elections had been correct and their outcome legitimate, were very disappointed.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe reported that the ballot was “badly and very badly” tempered with, and that the election failed to give Belarus the new start it needed.
It sure looks that there are no more games for Alexander Lukashenko to play as soon as the result was made public.
In a first comment on the elections’ outcome, Lukashenko said his country needed no “hare-brained democracy,” while accusing the protesters of “barbarism” and “banditry.”
Lukashenko has been the President of Belarus since 1994, and has ruled the country with an iron hand but with very poor economic and social achievements.
However, even so it seems strange that the opposition in the country is very fragmented, an atmosphere of distrust and fear keeping its leaders apart.
Belarussian economy is deeply dependent on the oil- and gas-subsidies provided by Russia.
On Monday, the president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev stated that the elections in the neighboring country were some “internal affair.”
Lukashenko has been playing the European card, pretending he was opened to cooperation with Europe and the United States, and even that he wanted to break away from Russia.
Analysts consider this was a façade that would have allowed him to get a little closer to Europe so that he may have a leverage in the future trades with Russia.
