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Aug 31, 20204 min read

What’s Happening in Belarus?

By: Lakshmi Sunder


European nations are known for their representative governments and the power leaders give to their people. However, Belarus - a landlocked country in eastern Europe - is an exception to that idea. President Alexander Lukashenko is often referred to as “The Last Dictator of Europe”. Recently, his governance and treatment of Belarusians have been in international headlines, due to the election that took place on August 9th.


Who is President Lukashenko and who is his primary opponent in the recent election?


Belarus separated from the Soviet Union in 1991, and Lukashenko was elected in 1994, twenty-six years ago. Since then, President Lukashenko has been the only president to serve Belarus and has been elected for six terms in a row. International communities have seen many of his past elections as fraudulent, including the most recent one, using methods such as ballot-stuffing.


Lukashenko’s autocracy has taken many forms. He has implemented constitutional amendments to keep himself in power, rooted out political opposers, rigged presidential elections, ensured that members of the parliament support him, and has imposed radical laws to control his people. For example, a Belarusian can be jailed for up to two years for insulting Belarus abroad, and up to five years for affronting the president.


President Lukashenko’s management of Covid-19 has also been subpar. He even went as far as to say that the virus can be cured with “a trip to the sauna or a drink of vodka”, and has not imposed quarantine or lockdown as most other countries have. Schools were reopened in late April despite a rising number of cases. Stores, restaurants, and factories remained open. The country has almost 71,000 cases, with around 70,000 recoveries, and over 600 deaths. The Belarus Ministry of Health has not reported the cumulative total of recovered patients, so we do not know the total number of Covid-19 cases to date.


In the recent election, Lukashenko had four other rivals. He jailed two of them (one of them on the grounds of suspected financial crimes), and wouldn’t allow another election rival to register to run. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya became his primary opponent, she was only allowed to run because Lukashenko didn’t see a woman as a threat. Lukashenko stated that in reference to Tikhanovskaya running for president, “[a female president] would collapse, poor thing”. He views Belarus as not progressive enough to have a female president yet.


Tikhanovskaya ran because her husband, a popular blogger who has spoken against Lukashenko in the past and decided to run for president, was jailed on the grounds of violating public order. She stepped in to take his place since then Tikhanovskaya has gotten a lot of support from Belarusians with her vows of fair elections. That is why when Lukashenko won by a landslide (80%) while Tikhanovskaya only got 7% of the votes outraged so many Belarusians. It was clearly fraudulent. Primary opposition candidates had been exiled or jailed by Lukashenko. Preliminary voting was extended to likely allow more time for ballot stuffing. Furthermore, election monitors say that the high turnout in the first five days of voting also indicated ballot stuffing. Tikhanovskaya was a popular candidate, and Lukashenko had a low approval rating. A governmental poll from April found that only a third of Belarusians trusted the president.


How are Belarusians speaking out against Lukashenko’s renewed presidency?


What’s happening now in Belarus, specifically the capital Minsk, is a monumental moment in history, the biggest protesting movement since the country’s separation from the Soviet Union in 1991. Nearly 200,000 Belarusians have flocked the streets of Minsk, nearing the president’s residence, protesting Lukashenko’s landslide victory and his rigging of the election.


Lukashenko has met the peaceful protesting with force, from his police and army. Police and soldiers have held the protesters back using rubber bullets, truncheons, flash and stun grenades, water cannons, and tear gas. 7,000 protesters have been arrested, 80 have gone missing, at least two have died, and opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has fled to Lithuania with her children after publicly rejecting his win.


What does the international community have to say about Lukashenko’s victory?


The European Union is considering economic sanctions against Belarus because of the rigged election. Josep Borrell, the EU chief of foreign policy, stated that Belarus needs a “substantial political change” and said that the recent election is “a matter of grave concern”. European countries such as Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Sweden, and Ukraine have all supported the Belarusian people over Lukashenko.


US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also scorned the recent election, explaining that the United States will “take actions consistent with helping Belarusians”. Secretary Pompeo has also condemned the way police and soldiers are treating peaceful protesters.


Russia, on the other hand, has a different viewpoint, being an important economic and political partnership with Belarus and providing energy subsidies for the country. Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, stated that individual foreign partners are meddling in Belarus’ domestic politics in a way that hasn’t been done in the past, and that might destabilize the country. Putin is worried that the pro-democracy protests in the neighboring country could inspire something similar in Russia, especially after the recent protests that have stemmed from the poisoning of the leader of the opposition political Progress Party, Alexei Navalny.


Chinese President Xi Jinping also congratulated Lukashenko for his victory. China has used Belarus as a way to extend its influence into Europe, and the recent protests or a shift in government could harm the Belt and Road Initiative that has projects in Belarus.


Despite President Alexander Lukashenko’s false win, Belarusians have risen up in an unprecedented way, all across the country. The president has responded to the Belarusian non-violent demonstrations with police brutality, but that hasn’t stopped Belarusians from returning to the streets the next day empowered by the intent to free their jailed loved ones. Instead of being intimidated by the last dictator, Belarusians will continue to fight for what they believe in.






Discussion Questions:

  • How can the international community assist the Belarusian protesters who have been jailed?

  • Why is the Kremlin showing support for President Lukashenko?

  • Will EU economic sanctions benefit or harm Belarusian workers?

  • Does Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have the grounds to condemn the treatment of protesters in Belarus when the US government is taking similar steps against their own protesters?

  • How can the international community prevent fraudulent elections from taking place in Belarus again?


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