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4-and-a-half years in the past, at a unique enterprise, the chief of Belarus acquired a a lot cooler reception.
One week after the 2020 presidential election, Alexander Lukashenko visited the Minsk Wheels Tractor Plant. Leaked video confirmed him being jeered and heckled by staff. They shouted ‘”Go away! Go away!”.
In 2020 the official election end result – of 80% for Mr Lukashenko – had sparked anger and big protests throughout the nation. Belarusians poured onto the streets to accuse their chief of stealing their votes and the election.
Within the brutal police crackdown that adopted, hundreds of anti-government protesters and critics have been arrested. Finally the wave of repression extinguished the protests and, with assist from Russia, Mr Lukashenko clung to energy.
The UK, the European Union and the USA refuse to recognise him because the respectable president of Belarus.
Alexander Lukashenko’s staunchest opponents (and potential rivals) are both in jail or have been compelled into exile.
That is why this week the European Parliament handed a decision calling on the EU to reject the upcoming presidential election as “a sham” and declaring that the election marketing campaign has been going down “in an atmosphere of extreme repression which fails to meet even the minimal requirements for democratic elections”.
I keep in mind interviewing Alexander Lukashenko last October, on the day the date of the presidential election was introduced.
“How can these elections be free and democratic if the leaders of the opposition are in jail or overseas?” I requested.
“Do you truly know who the leaders of the opposition are?” Mr Lukashenko hit again.
“An opposition is a bunch of people that ought to serve the pursuits, on the very least, of a small variety of folks within the nation. The place are these leaders you converse of? Get up!”
Alexander Lukashenko is not the only candidate. There are 4 others. However they appear extra like spoilers, than critical challengers.
