No Opposition in Belarus

Alexander Lukashenko, winner of the rigged 2020 Belarus elections, won’t tolerate opposition.

• Alexander Lukashenko is often called the last dictator of Europe, thanks to his clinging to power for 26 years using all sorts of shady electoral practices.
• In the 2020 national elections, Lukashenko’s party claimed to have won with 80.1% of the votes, a figure that has been disputed by most developed countries.
• Since August 2020, Lukashenko has doubled down on his efforts to stamp out any semblance of opposition to his regime inside as well as outside Belarus.
• One of the most prominent opposition figures in Belarus, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a former YouTuber turned politician, was just sentenced to 18 years in prison.
• His wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who wasn’t a politician had run for elections in 2020 when Siarhei was arrested earlier. She is said to have won more votes than Lukashenko.
• Post elections, the brutal crackdown by the Lukashenko regime forced Tikhanovskaya to escape to neighbouring Lithuania. She has since been leading the opposition efforts from there.
• Since last year, Lukashenko’s insecurity and lust for power have made his regime detain protestors, build prisoner camps and even kill dissidents abroad.
• This year, the regime even diverted a flight mid-air, just so that it was able to arrest a Belarussian dissident journalist Roman Protasevich.
• In this reading we take a look at the extent to which Lukashenko regime is suppressing any opposition and why the Western nation’s response isn’t going to change the status quo much.