I’ve reported on many elections.
I watched the Prime Minister and President roll up at the polling station, cast their votes and then take a few questions from reporters.
But I have never seen anything like the scene of Minsk polling station 478.
Longtime leader of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, once dubbed “Europe’s last dictator”, has arrived to vote. Then, while Belarusians were still voting, candidate Lukashenko gave a four-and-a-half-hour press conference live on state television.
It was an opportunity to Quiz him with a controversial poll that his critics slammed as “fake.”
“What wretched question have you asked for me?” he asked. “Like you always do.”
“Good morning,” I answered.
“Good morning, Steve.”
“How can you call this a democratic election when your main rival is in prison or in exile?” I asked.
“Some are in prison, others are in exile. But you are here!” Lukashenko said.
“Everyone has the right to choose. It’s democracy. Some people choose prison, some people choose asylum.
The reality is the authorities’ brutal crackdown on protesters after the 2020 presidential election, which resulted in staunch opponents of Alexander Lukashenko being jailed or forced into political exile. Personal choice did not come into it.
“I recently said, ‘We must not shut people’s mouths’ (must not be silent),” I reminded him.
“But your rivals have not only left the polls. Some of them are in prison. There are currently more than 1,200 political prisoners in Belarus. It’s not time to open the prison cell phones and release them. Isn’t there? , Sergei Tikanovsky…”
“You keep telling me about Maria, my God,” Lukashenko sighed.
“Okay, I’ll answer your question…prisons are for people who open their mouths wide and break the law. Don’t you have prisons in England and America?”
“In any country, if you break the law, you have to bear the consequences,” he continued. “The law is strict, but it’s the law. I didn’t invent it. You have to abide by it.”
“You need to follow the law,” I interjected. “But these people are in jail for criticizing you.”
“Ignorance of the law does not absolve you of prior liability.”
Although prominent opposition figures were not allowed to run, Alexander Lukashenko’s name was not the only name on the ballot. There were four other candidates. However, they came across more like spoilers than serious challengers.
“We spoke with some of the other candidates,” I told Lukashenko. “One of them, the Communist Party leader, is openly supporting you. The other is praising you. It’s a strange election, isn’t it?
“Steve, this is a whole new experience for you!” he replied to laughter and applause from the local journalists in the room.
“That’s true,” I said. “I’ve never seen an election like this.”
“The communist policy based on justice is the same policy that we are promoting,” Lukashenko asserted. “So why would they vote against me?”
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Karas, characterizes this presidential election in Belarus as a “blatant insult to democracy”.
Not that Alexander Lukashenko seems to care.
“I swear to you,” he told me, “I couldn’t care less whether you recognized our election or not. The most important thing is that the Belarusian people are aware of it.”
