Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko presents flowers to a member of a local electoral commission during the Belarusian parliamentary elections at a polling station in Minsk, Belarus, on Sunday. Photo by Belarusian Presidential Press Service/EPA-EFE
Feb. 25 (UPI) — Belarusians voted in parliamentary and local elections Sunday that the United States and prominent exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya condemned as a “sham.”
The contest saw a voter turnout of 73%, according to the Eastern European nation’s Central Election Commission, which early Monday announced on Telegram that all 110 seats in the lower House of the National Assembly had been elected. More than 12,000 seats in local councils had also been up grabs.
Those running belonged to one of four approved political parties, in a country that once had 15, but authorities have recently prevented 12 from registering. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has said its election observers were not invited to witness Sunday’s contest.
The election is the latest to be held in Belarus after authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth term in August 2020. The election was met with widespread international condemnation and protests at home. Thousands have since been arrested and opposition politicians were forced to flee following the subsequent government crackdown.
On Sunday, Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who aided in the invasion of Ukraine, told reporters that he would run next year for a seventh term, state-owned BelTA reported.
“Com’n. Just coronate yourself,” Tsikhanouskaya chided him in a statement on X, following the announcement. “No one will be fooled anyway.”
Tsikhanouskaya is among opposition politicians who fled the country following 2020.
She has urged the public to boycott the election, and on Sunday delivered an address that she said was broadcast on some 20,000 public screens throughout Belarus with the support of BELPOL, an association of former local law enforcement officials.
Franak Viacorka, Tsikhanouskaya’s chief political advisor, published a video of the address being aired seemingly in a subway station, stating they had been hacked by BELPOL.
Today, my address to Belarusians about the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine & Lukashenka’s sham elections was displayed on 2000 screens in public spaces throughout #Belarus. This action was organized by BELPOL, a coalition of former police & security forces officers. pic.twitter.com/7TeoO5Lyf9— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) February 24, 2024
In an English-language statement published on X, Tsikhanouskaya called the elections “fake,” stating it did not meet any democratic standards and opposition media and politicians had been “silenced.”
“But let’s be clear: the regime’s attempts to use these fake elections to legitimize its power will not be successful. The people of Belarus see through this sham, this facade of democracy,” she said.
“And now, it’s crucial that the international community does the same. We must stand firm and not recognize the legitimacy of these elections and their results. The people of Belarus deserve genuine, fair and just elections — something this criminal regime cannot and will not provide.”
On Sunday, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller similarly condemned the election as a “sham,” while calling on Lukashenko to end its crackdown, release political prisoners and open dialogue with its political opponents.
“The elections were held in a climate of fear under which no electoral processes could be called democratic,” he said in a statement. “The Belarusian people deserve better.”