INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Belarusians started voting on Sunday, with President Alexander Lukashenko expected to cruise to victory undisputed for a seventh term,
extending his three-decade authoritarian rule.Lukashenko, a 70-year-old previous cumulative farm boss, has actually been in power in
reclusive, Moscow-allied Belarus considering that 1994
Polls opened at 08:00 am local time in Minsks very first presidential vote since Lukashenko reduced mass demonstrations versus his guideline
The opposition and the West stated Lukashenko rigged the last vote and the authorities cracked down on presentations, with more than a
thousand individuals still jailed.All of Lukashenkos political challengers are either in jail some held incommunicado or in exile together
with tens of countless Belarusians who have run away given that 2020
All our challengers and opponents need to comprehend: do not hope, we will never repeat what we had in 2020, Lukashenko told a stadium in
Minsk throughout a thoroughly choreographed event on Friday.Most individuals in Belarus have only remote memories of life in the country
before Lukashenko, who was 39 when he won the first national election in Belarus given that it gained independence from the Soviet
Union.Criticism of the strongman is banned in Belarus
Many people AFP spoke with in Minsk and other towns voiced support for him.The other candidates running versus Lukashenko have been chosen
to provide the election an air of democracy and couple of understand who they are.In Minsk, 74-year-old pensioner Nadejda Gujalovskaia, who
explained herself as a patriot, chose Lukashenko due to a lack of other choices
Maybe whatever here is not ideal, we dont have democracy, Gujalovskaia said.The fate of Ukraine was also on her mind
I do not desire a Maidan [uprising] here, she said, describing the social discontent that erupted in Ukraine in 2013, ultimately leading to
the ousting of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.That set Kyivs new pro-European federal government on a collision course with Russian
President Vladimir Putin, who in 2014 seized Crimea and then eight years later on launched the full-blown invasion of Ukraine.In 2022,
Russian troops entered Ukraine from a number of instructions, consisting of from Belarus
The following year, Russia sent tactical nuclear weapons to the country.The United Nations approximates that some 300,000 Belarusians have
actually left the nation since 2020 mainly to Poland and Lithuania out of a population of 9 million.They will be unable to cast tallies,
with Belarus having scrapped ballot abroad.Exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya knocked the vote as a farce in a January
interview with AFP.Her spouse Sergei Tikhanovsky has been held incommunicado for practically a year.She urged dissidents to get ready for an
opportunity to change their country but conceded it was not the moment
In the run-up to the election, the Lukashenko administration pardoned around 200 political prisoners.But previous detainees AFP spoke to say
those launched are under the close watch of security services and are not able to lead a normal life.Nobel Prize winner Ales Bialiatski is
amongst those in jail in Belarus.While Lukashenko once thoroughly balanced his relations between the European Union and Moscow, since 2020
he has ended up being politically and financially reliant on Russia.Kaja Kallas, the EUs top diplomat, called the election a sham in a
post on X on Saturday and said that Lukashenko does not have any legitimacy
Sometimes called Europes last totalitarian a nickname he welcomes Lukashenko has kept much of the Soviet Unions traditions and facilities
throughout his time in power.Unlike in Russia, the KGB security company has actually kept its Soviet-era name and Belarus still utilizes the
death penalty.The countrys economy is mainly state-planned and Lukashenko ditched Belaruss white-red-white flag in the 1990s which has
actually since ended up being the sign of the opposition.Lukashenko prides himself on keeping the nations Soviet-era markets and farming
business in state hands.In his speech on Friday, he discussed the pyatiletka or 5 year planan economic term utilized throughout the Soviet
