On August 9, 2020, presidential elections were held in Belarus, after which mass protests began, those who did not agree with the voting results. According to official figures, the victory in them was won by Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, for which 80.1% of voters voted. The second place with 10.1% of the votes was taken by the oppositionist Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. At the same time, alternative exit polls showed the opposite picture – a confident victory for Tikhanovskaya.
Belarusian security forces violently dispersed rallies using stun grenades, rubber bullets and water cannons… During the protests, hundreds of demonstrators were injured and injured. According to the human rights center “Viasna”, since August in the country detained more than 25 thousand people, in total they received up to 100 thousand days of arrest. The authorities announced four dead protesters, opposition – about eight.
On September 23, Lukashenko held a secret inauguration ceremony, for the first time in the history of Belarus. not announced and not televised… A number of states, including the USA, Great Britain, Canada, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Denmark, Ukraine and Czech Republic, did not recognize Lukashenka’s inauguration.
The opposition insists on holding new elections in Belarus. Lukashenka said that first, the country needs to change the constitution (the draft of the new constitution, according to him, will present in 2021), and only after that hold new elections.
As of May 21 in Belarus, political prisoners recognized 406 people, reported human rights center “Vesna”. Most of them came under criminal prosecution after the presidential elections.
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