President Alexander Lukashenko, under pressure from massive protests that broke out after a questionable election that gave him a sixth term in a landslide, on Sunday …
President Alexander Lukashenko, under pressure from massive protests that broke out after a questionable election that gave him a sixth term in a landslide, on Sunday vehemently rejected any possibility of holding a rerun of the vote. Lukashenko spoke at a rally of thousands of government supporters near the main government building in Minsk, the capital, while large crowds streamed toward the site of an opposition rally 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) away, the ninth straight day of anti-government rallies. The authoritarian president has ruled the ex-Soviet nation with an iron fist since 1994, repressing opposition figures and independent news media. But this year, fed up with the country’s declining living standards and Lukashenko’s dismissal of the coronavirus pandemic, sustained anti-government protests before and after the Aug.9 presidential election have posed the biggest challenge to his 26-year rule. On Sunday, the 65-year-old Lukashenko accused Western powers of interfering in his country’s sovereignty. He claimed they were gathering military units in countries along Belarus’ western borders and denounced suggestions by some Western nations that Belarus should rerun its Aug.9 presidential vote, which opposition supporters say gave Lukashenko a victory only through massive fraud.
