Belarus Heads to Polls in 'Tightly Controlled' Elections as Lukashenko Tries Consolidating His Grip

Minsk – Amid the ongoing turmoil in Eastern Europe, Belarus headed to polls on Sunday with many believing that the country's president Alexander Lukashenko will attempt to consolidate his grip on power. In the tightly controlled local and parliamentary elections, the authorities only allowed four pro-regime parties to field their candidates, The Financial Times reported. It is important to note that this is the first time in four years that Belarusians were asked to cast their votes. The last election the country witnessed was in 2020, which prompted a nationwide protest after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was elected to power.

Since the 2020 elections, tens of thousands of anti-regime demonstrators were arrested and beaten in police custody and most of the independent news outlets that were operating in the country were outlawed. According to the Viasna Human Rights Centre, at least five political prisoners have died in custody since the fateful polls. Meanwhile, exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya urged her supporters to boycott this year's elections and described the polls as mocked and fraudulent. Tsikhanouskaya ran against the Belarusian leader in 2020 after she replaced her jailed husband Syarhei Tsikhanouski on the ballot. While the Belarusian opposition leader is in exile in Lithuania, her husband continues to remain in prison.

“We are sure no democratic country will recognise these non-elections,” Tsikhanouskaya’s diplomatic adviser, Dzianis Kuchinsky, told the Financial Times. He went on to compare this year's elections to a “military operation” given the presence of soldiers at the polling stations.

Lukashenko has been in power for 30 years

The Belarusian leader who has been in power for 30 years has also barred international observers from monitoring the vote. In light of this, one of the European Union’s chief diplomats Josep Borrell condemned the polls last month. “The Lukashenko regime continues its deplorable tactics of intimidation and repression against its critics and potential political opponents ahead of the ‘elections’ in February,” Borrell said. Meanwhile, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has also condemned Minsk’s refusal to allow the independent monitoring of its elections. “The Belarusian government’s decision to shirk its obligation to invite OSCE observers is concerning, and goes against the best interest of the Belarusian people,” said Pia Kauma, president of the OSCE’s parliamentary assembly, according to the reports by the Financial Times. 

Amid all the chaos, Lukashenko said that the role of the parliament will be increasing after the 2024 polls.  “The role of the parliament will be increasing. Every month, every year. We are already transferring some powers to the parliament and other authorities. A certain restructuring is underway, generations are changing,” the Belarusian leader told local reporters after casting his vote, Belta News reported. He went on to claim that the Belarusian government will go through “modernisation” after the polls. “This is an extremely serious event, especially at the moment when our government is going through modernization. They may criticize us for some kind of weak modernization. But we have always said that all processes everywhere should be evolutionary in nature. If we take drastic approaches, we can do it now, but then it is going to be a revolution. Belarus and Russia have had enough revolutions. What it can lead to? Ukraine can be cited as an example here. They reached the limit not time ago but tried it again in 2014-2015 through Maidan. This is what those sharp turns led to. That is why we are acting without any hurry, modernizing our system. We need to make it balanced,” the president emphasized.