bne IntelliNews – Lukashenko of Belarus sets election date for likely re-election

According to the country’s Central Election Commission, the next presidential elections in Belarus will take place on January 26.

This will be the first presidential election since the disputed 2020 election, which saw widespread allegations of fraud and sparked mass protests. President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, is expected to run for re-election. It is unclear why Lukashenko chose January to vote, as the deadline for holding the elections – five years after the last vote – is August.

Over the years, Lukashenko has eliminated most of the opposition and centralized power, drawing significant criticism of his increasingly authoritarian rule. Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for nearly three decades, is widely expected to win a seventh term in office in upcoming elections.

Lukashenko’s leadership is characterized by strict control of political and civil liberties, although he continues to be accused of human rights violations. In addition to suppressing dissent and jailing political opponents, Lukashenko also retains complete control over the Central Election Commission, which has been subject to international sanctions since at least 2006 for manipulating election results.

In the 2020 election, Lukashenko’s main challenger, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, won before being forced into exile. Her husband, a prominent opposition figure who was arrested before the election and replaced by his wife on the ballot, remains imprisoned. After the 2020 election, the government’s crackdown on dissent led to mass arrests, with many opposition leaders and protesters jailed. According to human rights group Viasna, there are currently around 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus.

Ahead of the 2024 election, Tikhanovskaya has dismissed the vote as a “sham” and called on Belarusians and the international community to reject it. She stressed that no alternative candidates or independent observers would be allowed, creating an atmosphere of fear and repression. In a statement on X (formerly Twitter)She pointed out that the election did not offer a true democratic process but instead solidified Lukashenko’s grip on power.