Minsk, Belarus- Dissidents and revolt police have clashed in Belarus’ capital Minsk and other cities, after a state TV exit survey said long-time pioneer Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected in Sunday’s decision.
In the Minsk city police use stun grenades to scatter the mob, during protest few are injured as per local media report and hundreds of people were detained, according to a leading rights group. The brutal crackdown that started late Sunday and endured through the night taken after a tense campaign that saw enormous rallies against President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the ex-Soviet country with an iron hand for 26 a long time. Election authorities announced that early returns appear 65-year-old Lukashenko winning with more than 80% of the vote whereas the main challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a previous English educator and political amateur, had almost 8%.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya rejects the poll predict by election authorities and said “I will believe my own eyes — the majority was for us.”
Thousands of her supporters rapidly took to the roads of the capital to challenge what they saw as official controls of the vote. They faced lines of riot police in black uniforms who moved rapidly to scatter the demonstrators, firing flash-bang grenades and beating them with truncheons.
Lukashenko is president since independent
Belarus was previously part of the Soviet Union. On 25 August 1991, it separated from the Soviet Union and became an independent country. After this a separate constitution was formed here which came in 1994. Under this, the system of President’s rule was fixed in the country. The first presidential election was held in Belarus in June 1994, in which Lukashenko won. Since then, he has been sitting in the President’s chair. There have been five elections in Belarus so far, but only Lukashenko has won.
Mother turned politician challenges Lukashenko
Svetlana (37), a mother of two, has been receiving threats since her decision to contest elections. As a result, he had to send his children outside the country with his grandmother. On being inexperienced in politics, she says that she took this decision spontaneously. Actually, her husband was arrested, who is a famous YouTuber. He also tried to become a candidate to contest the election.
Svetlana hoped that her nomination for the election would bring attention to the case of her husband’s arrest and that he would be able to be released. However, he had no hope that the authorities would allow him to contest the election. All was well till now, but what happened after this shocked Svetlana as well as Belarus officials and politics.
ABHISHEK KUMAR@Samacharline