Lukaschko stays in power: controversial choice in Belarus!

Lukaschko stays in power: controversial choice in Belarus!

Minsk, Belarus - On January 27, 2025, the election commission in Belarus Alexander Lukashenko declared the winner of the presidential election. This has already been his seventh term since 1994, and according to the state news agency Belta, Lukashenko received 86.82 percent of the vote. This represents the highest proportion of voices that has ever been granted to him. In election surveys, he is even attributed to a vote of 87.6 percent. The turnout was 85.7 percent, which represents an increase compared to the 2020 election (84.38 percent).

The election commission announced a press conference for 11 a.m. local time (1 p.m. CET). Political scientist Waleri Karbalewitsch, however, expressed concerns about the published figures and claimed that these did not correspond to reality. He stated that the numbers had already been determined by the political leadership in advance. In a choice with real opponents, Lukaschenko would have had no chance of winning. However, only four competitors who are known as supporters of Lukaschenkos, such as "https://www.kreiszeitung-wesermarsch.de/deutschland-welt/lukaschenko-zu-zu--praesidente-in-belarus-erklaert-265654.html" Target = "_ blank", were approved. Rel = "Noopener Noreferrer"> Kreiszeitung Wesermarsch reported.

election conditions and opposition

In the run -up to the election that took place on Sunday, the election campaign in Minsk was almost unable to exist. The penetration of the voting advertising was low and over 400 foreign journalists were admitted to observe the election. However, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) received an invitation to observation just ten days before the election. The Foreign Ministry of Belarus rejected western criticism of the election conditions as anti-belarus.

Five candidates were on the ballot, including Oleg Gajdukewitsch, who predicted that Lukaschenko would receive over 80 percent of the vote. In fact, there were no real opposition representatives in the election campaign, in contrast to the election 2020. Swetlana Tuchanowskaja, who took second place in 2020, lived in exile in Lithuania and recommended that the voters be voted "against everyone" because the election was meaningless. The state power prepared itself to prevent protests on the election day, with rumors circulating about a possible website. The main goal of the election was to secure Lukaschko an approval of more than 80 percent and thus enable him for another five years in power, such as Tageschau reported.