Hi, welcome to Symposium.
Belarus is currently facing its biggest political
crisis, and quick introduction: it’s a country
in Eastern Europe, with world-famous cities
like Minsk.
Throughout history, various different states
have controlled Belarus, including the Kievan
Rus’, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,
and the Russian Empire.
Alexander Lukashenko has served as the country’s
first president since 1994.
From the eyes of western journalists, Belarus
is seen as Europe’s last dictatorship due
to the country’s poor human rights record,
such as the persecution of non-governmental
organizations, independent journalists, national
minorities, and politicians in their opposition
as well as Lukashenko’s self-named authoritarian
style of government.
And what has he done to provoke such outcry?
Well, he continued Soviet-era policies like
state ownership of large sections of the economy
and most recently, he has been criticized
by many as having unfair elections and suppressing
political opposition.
To add to all of that, Belarus is the only
country in Europe officially using the Death
Penalty.
But how did we get here and what is happening?
This is what this video will teach you.
Previously, due to Communist party support,
the country’s name was changed to the Republic
of Belarus on August 25, 1991.
Leaders met on December 8, 1991 to declare
the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the
formation of the Commonwealth of Independent
States, a regional intergovernmental organization
of around nine member nations and an estimated
population of almost 240, 000, 000.
At this point, Belarus was finally achieving
independence.
But in terms of post-independence, it’s
where things get relatively complicated.
Two-round elections for the presidency, one
in June 24, 1994 and July 10, 1994 propelled
unknown Alexander Lukashenko into national
prominence.
In the first round, he garnered 45 % of the
vote and in the second round, he garnered
80 %, defeating Vyacheslav Kebich.
He was re-elected in 2001, 2006, 2010, and
2015.
Despite his political success, Lukashenko
is criticized for his authoritarian style
of government.
And what has he done?
Opposition candidates are pressured or detained
by the government, those loyal to Lukashenko
control all of the seats in both houses of
the National Assembly, including the media
and CEC (which controls which candidates run
for political offices).
In 2019, Lukashenko spoke in Sochi with Russian
president Vladimir Putin about uniting Russia
with Belarus, a scheme some say is for Putin
to remain in power beyond 2024.
During the 2020 Belarusian presidential election,
Lukashenko sought a sixth term in office.
This was on August 9, 2020.
Voting began on August 4 and ran until August
8.
Incumbent Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected
to a 6th term in office, with results crediting
him with 80 % of the vote.
The other opposing nominee, Sviatlana Tiskihanouskaya,
also from an Independent party, or not affiliated
with any political party, garnered only 10.12
% of the vote.
Since 1994, Lukashenko has won every presidential
election, with all being described as neither
free nor fair.
Why wasn’t the recent election fair?
Because opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya
claimed to have won the first round with 60
% of the vote, and called on Lukashenko to
negotiate.
Her campaign team said they were ready to
hold “long-term protests” against the
official results.
ALL opposition candidates have filed appeals
to the Central Election Commission because
they say that the results should be invalidated
due to electoral fraud.
Let’s look at the electoral system to understand
a little bit more how all of this came to
be.
The President of Belarus is elected through
the two-round system, in which the citizen
votes a single time for their chosen candidate
to elect a single winner, which is actually
simple despite its name.
If no candidate wins 50 % of the vote, a second
round is held with the top two candidates.
The winner of the 2nd round is elected.
And what has Lukashenko done?
Despite the two-round system, a second round
hasn’t been required since 1994.
In the past four elections, he claimed margins
of 77 % or greater in the first round and
no election since 1994 has met international
standards of transparency and fairness.
And let’s go a little bit back in time to
May 2020, when blogger Siarhei Tsikhanouski
announced on his YouTube channel that he was
running for president of Belarus.
The blogger was then arrested because he went
on trips around Belarus that covered consequences
of Lukashenko's 26-year term as a president.
These trips proved that there were human rights
violations and economic problems in Belarus.
After he was arrested, his supporters held
protests across the country.
Over 20 to 30 people were initially detained.
Tsikhanouski was placed in a temporary detention
center and announced on his YouTube channel
that he wanted to run for president of Belarus.
Nonetheless, the CEC, or Central Election
Commission of Belarus refused to register
the initiative group to nominate him.
In response to that, his spouse, Sviatlana
Tsikhanouskaya, decided to apply as a candidate
for election, and her group was successfully
registered by the CEC.
After Tsikhanouski left the detention center
he was put in on May 20, 2020, he began collecting
signatures for his spouse.
He announced that he was collecting these
signatures for a fair election in Belarus,
and thousands of people came to support them.
Lukashenko then made a statement referencing
Tsikhanouski, and a few hours later, Tsikhanouski
was talking with some people, there was a
provocation, and he was promptly detained
and arrested by AMAP, the Belarus riot police.
Mikalai Kazlou, retired coronel of the Belarusian
police, mentioned that during his speech at
Minsk Tractor Plant, Lukashenko gave the command
to screw, twist, throw in jail, and the minister
seized this opportunity and created a provocation.
More recently, street protests and strikes
have been triggered by the disputed elections
and hundreds of protestors have been imprisoned.
Many new members of the previous government
were also re-appointed.
Lukashenko told his security council that
there should no longer be any disorder in
Minsk of any kind, and why escalate to this?,
because the exiled leader of the opposition,
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, urged EU leaders
to reject the election.
She called this the awakening of Belarus,
as she mentioned that Lukashenko has lost
all legitimacy in the eyes of Belarus and
the world.
She formed a co-ordination council with plans
for new, fair, and democratic presidential
elections with international supervision.
She also had something to say.
In light of this, the EU decided to do various
things.
Firstly, impose sanctions for officials involved
in election-rigging, brutality, and protester
imprisonment as well as the repression of
protests.
There have been two confirmed deaths since
clashes with police erupted over the disputed
election.
These sanctions include an arms embargo, a
ban on the export of goods for internal repression,
an asset freezer and a travel ban for people
suspected to have led to the disappearance
of two opposition politicians 20 years ago.
Second, they supported the people on the streets
and those that didn't recognize the election
results.
Thirdly, leaders offered help in dialogue
mediation between the opposition and the government,
to find a way for the President to stand down
and peacefully transfer power.
Adding to that, an estimated 63 million dollars
of financial support has been given from EU
to Belarus, with $2.4 million going to the
victims of violence, $1.2 million to “civil
society and independent media” and the rest
to the fight against the coronavirus.
And who is behind this?
Linas Linkevičius, Lithuania’s foreign
minister, seeking to help “the victims of
Belarusian oppression”.
Charles Michel, the president of the European
Council, states that any resolution of the
crisis “must be found in Belarus, not in
Brussels or in Moscow.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel mentioned
that the election wasn’t fair nor free.
She phoned Lukashenko but he refused to speak
to her, she said.
Merkel said she made it clear to President
Putin of Russia that military intervention
would further complicate the situation.
This is making Belarus experience a political
crisis, with tens of thousands of demonstrators
rejecting Lukashenko’s August 9 victory
which they say was rigged.
Currently, what is being done is the negotiation
of a transfer of power, yet that has been
rejected by Lukashenko.
Over the weekend, bigger rallies are expected,
as riots on the streets of Minsk exploded
as a violent crackdown last week.
Police vans rolled out, creating tension.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign prime minister,
had this to say: “I would like to recommend
to everyone not to use the difficult situation
in Belarus to derail a normal, mutually respectful
dialogue between the authorities and society.
As social media is widespread, Belarus is
receiving support from almost everyone.
Belarus is a country seeking revolution, and
the world is watching as the situation plays
out.
Thank you for watching.
This is Symposium, see you next time.
