Belarus: Lukashenka Having Himself Re-Elected

Simulated democracy

Latvian Delfi comments on the upcoming election in Belarus:

“This week Lukashenka will play at ‘elections’ again. ... There is little doubt that the election results will be falsified. Bypol [a Belarusian organisation created by former employees of law enforcement agencies to counter the Belarusian authorities] claims that 97 percent of the heads of election commissions already have experience in falsifying results. Furthermore, for the first time ever there won’t be any independent election observers or democratic opposition candidates. And to motivate citizens to travel to Belarus to vote, there won’t be any polling stations outside the country.”

Repression instead of an election campaign

Lukashenka is already resorting to repression in a bid to prevent protests, 24tv.ua (Ukraine) reports:

“Security forces loyal to the usurper are putting pressure on everyone everywhere – local ‘comrades’ are even infiltrating school chats and looking for ‘troublemakers’. Random searches have become the norm, without any reason being given. Written assurances that the person concerned will refrain from ‘committing unlawful acts in the future’ and ‘preventive talks’ have become common practice.”

Don’t leave the opposition in the lurch

The West must stand by the regime’s opponents more than ever, British The Guardian stresses:

Other Topics of Interest

Belarus Election Offers Lukashenko Versus No One Else

All of Lukashenko’s opponents are in prison or in exile and any form of criticism against Lukashenko is banned in Belarus.

“Enhanced support for the exiled Belarus media should be seen as a priority, along with increased aid to human rights defenders and a renewed focus on the plight of detainees. ... Mr Lukashenko will hail another hollow victory on Sunday. But as the recent example of Bashar al-Assad’s fall underlined, dictatorships tend to crumble suddenly and unexpectedly. In dismal times, the west must play its part in helping to ensure that Belarusian civil society can seize such a moment when and if it arrives.”

See the original here.