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Belarus opposition candidate rejects election result after night of protests Belarus opposition candidate rejects election result after night of protests
(about 5 hours later)
‘I will believe my own eyes,’ says Svetlana Tikhanovskaya after commission says Alexander Lukashenko won landslide‘I will believe my own eyes,’ says Svetlana Tikhanovskaya after commission says Alexander Lukashenko won landslide
The main opposition candidate in Belarus’s election has rejected the official results that gave President Alexander Lukashenko a landslide victory and her team has vowed to stay in the country to campaign for a change of power. Belarus’s opposition has issued a message of defiance, rejecting the results of a presidential election marred by vote-rigging as the country braced for a second night of protests against President Alexander Lukashenko.
“I will believe my own eyes – the majority was for us,” Svetlana Tikhanovskaya told reporters in the capital, Minsk, on Monday, after widespread reports of vote-tampering in Sunday’s election.“I will believe my own eyes – the majority was for us,” Svetlana Tikhanovskaya told reporters in the capital, Minsk, on Monday, after widespread reports of vote-tampering in Sunday’s election.
Tikhanovskaya said she considered herself the election winner not Lukashenko, and described the election as massively rigged. Her aides said the opposition wanted a vote recount at polling stations where there were problems. They also said the opposition wanted to hold talks with authorities about how to bring about a peaceful change of power. Tikhanovskaya said she considered herself the winner, not Lukashenko, and described the election as massively rigged. “The authorities should think about how to peacefully hand over power to us,” she said. “I consider myself the winner of this election.”
The country’s election commission reported on Monday that Lukashenko won 80.23% of the vote while Tikhanovskaya took 9.9%, despite a popular wave of support for the opposition candidate, whose political rallies have drawn some of the country’s largest crowds since the days of the Soviet Union. Her aides said the opposition wanted a vote recount at polling stations where there were reports of vote tampering. They also said the opposition wanted to hold talks with authorities about how to bring about a peaceful change of power.
Similar, preliminary results released on Sunday prompted unprecedented protests in cities across the country, posing the greatest threat to Lukashenko – often referred to as Europe’s last dictator – since he came to power 26 years ago. Lukashenko, who is facing the deepest crisis of his 26 years in power, has threatened to crush any illegal rallies. He claimed that the protests were being directed from abroad, singling out Poland, Britain, and the Czech Republic.
There were bloody clashes as riot police used rubber bullets, flash grenades, teargas and water cannon to suppress demonstrators. Police detained about 3,000 people, Russia’s RIA news agency cited the Belarusian interior ministry as saying. Further protests are expected on Monday night. Tikhanovskaya has stopped short of joining street protests and her team released a statement on Monday evening saying they feared her appearance could lead to “provocations”.
Lukashenko’s victory was quickly endorsed by Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, stopped short of congratulating Lukashenko and in a statement called for restraint. But the harrowing scenes of violence on the streets of Minsk and dozens more Belarusian cities are expected to bring more people on to the streets on Monday evening, with rallies anticipated to begin at 7pm.
Activists said they had reports dozens of people were injured in the fighting and one person may have been killed after being hit by a police van driving at speed. Belarus’s interior ministry on Monday denied anyone had been killed. The Guardian could not immediately verify the death. The protests have largely been decentralised, with no clear leader, although popular bloggers on social media have played an important role in their coordination. Protesters organising over Telegram channels discussed bringing protective gear such as goggles and first-aid kits as they expected fresh clashes with riot police armed with batons, rubber bullets, water cannon and stun grenades.
Photographs showed protesters with bloodied faces being tended by field medics. In one photograph, a man who had reportedly been hit in the lung with a rubber bullet lies inert, covered in blood. In another, a riot police officer in a balaclava gestures with an expression of fear and frustration at a protester lying unconscious. The country’s election commission reported late on Monday that Lukashenko had won 80.08% of the vote while Tikhanovskaya took just 10.09%, despite a popular wave of support for the opposition candidate, whose political rallies have drawn some of the country’s largest crowds since the days of the Soviet Union.
“We’re tired of this rudeness, this nastiness,” said a male protester in Minsk who was wearing a dark T-shirt and a mask, and declined to give his name. “We’re tired of these [exit poll] numbers, which are a spit in the face.” Similar, preliminary results released on Sunday prompted unprecedented protests in cities across the country, posing the greatest threat to Lukashenko – often referred to as Europe’s last dictator – since he came to power. Foreign observers have not declared a Belarusian election free and fair since 1995.
Another man, a plumber, said: “Everyone has come out because we have been cheated. When they gave her [Tikhanovskaya] just 6% [per exit polls], and she had actually won 70%, it was outrageous.” Police detained about 3,000 people in Sunday’s bloody clashes, the Belarusian interior ministry said, with more than 2,000 of them in the country’s regions, where support for Lukashenko is higher than in the capital.
A reporter for the Guardian saw police use water cannon and rubber bullets against protesters. Video and photographs of the clashes also showed police using Czech-manufactured stun grenades. They were reported to have caused several serious injuries: one man was photographed with part of his foot blown off, and another had reportedly lost a finger due to the devices. Lukashenko declared on Monday that he would put down the opposition rallies, calling the protesters “sheep” under foreign control who were “wanting to spoil the holiday”.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European commission, called for Belarus to publish accurate results and condemned the violence against opposition supporters. “Harassment and violent repression of peaceful protesters has no place in Europe,” she said. “I warned that there wouldn’t be a maidan, however much some people want that,” Lukashenko said on Monday, referring to a popular uprising in Ukraine that toppled a pro-Kremlin leader in 2014. “People need to settle down, calm down,” he said.
Lukashenko called the protesters “sheep” under foreign control who were “wanting to spoil the holiday”. Lukashenko’s victory was quickly endorsed by Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia, who has feuded with Lukashenko in recent weeks. In a congratulatory message, Putin urged Lukashenko to consider further economic and legal integration with Russia, which the opposition has warned would undermine Belarus’s sovereignty.
“I warned that there wouldn’t be a Maidan, however much some people want that,” Lukashenko said on Monday, referring to a 2014 popular uprising in Ukraine that toppled a pro-Kremlin leader. “People need to settle down, calm down,” he said. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, stopped short of congratulating Lukashenko and in a statement called for restraint and an end to street violence which took place in more than 20 cities on Monday in the largest mass protest since Lukashenko took power in 1994.
Analysts said it was the deepest crisis Lukashenko had faced in his career. He was already facing unprecedented anger over his handling of the economy and a bungled coronavirus response. Before the elections he jailed opposition candidates and targeted foreign allies, accusing Moscow of sending mercenaries to destabilise the country. Internet connectivity has been significantly disrupted since Sunday. A reporter for the Guardian saw police use water cannon and rubber bullets against protesters, while photographs showed field medics tending to bloodied protesters with wounds from batons and rubber bullets. One protester said the elections results were a “spit in the face”.
“It’s certainly the biggest protest I’ve ever seen in Belarus since Lukashenko came to power,” said David Marples, a professor at the University of Alberta and an expert on Belarus. “In terms of the elections that Lukashenko’s held, there’s been nothing like it. It seems to me that the whole country really is in favour of change.”“It’s certainly the biggest protest I’ve ever seen in Belarus since Lukashenko came to power,” said David Marples, a professor at the University of Alberta and an expert on Belarus. “In terms of the elections that Lukashenko’s held, there’s been nothing like it. It seems to me that the whole country really is in favour of change.”
Video and photographs of the clashes also showed police using Czech-made stun grenades. The manufacturer denied on Monday that it had sold the devices to Belarus, which is under an arms embargo. Protesters have also been contending with a shutdown of the internet, as well as blocking of independent Belarusian news sites.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European commission, called for Belarus to publish accurate results, and condemned the violence against opposition supporters. “Harassment and violent repression of peaceful protesters has no place in Europe,” she said.
Analysts said it was the deepest crisis Lukashenko had faced in his career. He was already facing unprecedented anger over his handling of the economy and a bungled coronavirus response. Before the elections he jailed opposition candidates and targeted foreign allies, accusing Moscow of sending mercenaries to destabilise the country.
Tikhanovskaya was initially a stand-in candidate for her husband, a popular YouTuber jailed earlier in the year. She has grown into an effective campaigner, attracting more than 63,000 people to a rally last month in Minsk, and thousands more in small cities and towns usually dominated by Lukashenko.Tikhanovskaya was initially a stand-in candidate for her husband, a popular YouTuber jailed earlier in the year. She has grown into an effective campaigner, attracting more than 63,000 people to a rally last month in Minsk, and thousands more in small cities and towns usually dominated by Lukashenko.
She has been joined onstage by two other female politicians in a “trio” that has transformed the image of the country’s male-dominated politics. She has been joined on stage by two other female politicians in a “trio” that has transformed the image of the country’s male-dominated politics.