MINSK (Reuters) – Bolshevik leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Sunday that some of his political rivals “chose” to go to prison as he casts his vote in an election set to extend his 31-year rule.
When Belarus voted, Lukashenko erupted with the world's media in a press conference lasting more than four hours and 20 minutes.
Asked how the elections could be free and fair, given that all the main opposition figures are in prison or have fled the country, the veteran leader replied: “Some chose prison, some chose ‘exile’, as you say. Expel anyone from the country.” .
He said that no one had been banned from speaking in Belarus, but that prison was “for people who opened their mouths too wide, to put it bluntly, those who broke the law.”
The United States and the European Union described the elections as a sham, given the repression of political opponents and the ban on independent media.
“This is a blatant insult to democracy,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on the eve of the vote.
Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told Reuters this week that Lukashenko was engineering his re-election as part of a “ritual for dictators.” Demonstrations against him took place on Sunday in Warsaw and other Eastern European cities.
Lukashenko dismissed the criticism as meaningless and said he did not care whether the West decided to recognize the election or not.
The European Union and the United States said they did not recognize him as Belarus' legitimate leader after he used his security forces to crush mass protests after the last election in 2020, when Western governments backed Tsikhanouskaya on the grounds that he had bluffed the results to cheat her of victory.
Tens of thousands of people were arrested. Human rights group Viasna, which has been banned as an “extremist” organisation, says there are still around 1,250 political prisoners.
Lukashenko released more than 250 last year on what he called humanitarian territory, but denied this was intended as a signal to the West to try to mend relations.
“I don't give a damn about the West,” he said, adding that Belarus was willing to talk to the EU but not “bow down to you or crawl on our knees.”
He said prominent dissident Maria Kalesnikava was guilty of “violating the regime” but was in good health and that he had personally intervened to allow her a visit from her father last year. Other notable prisoners include human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Alice Bialayski, serving a 10-year sentence for smuggling which he denies.
“In any state you have to bear responsibility if you break the law. The law is severe, but it is the law,” Lukashenko said.
Putin is an ally
Lukashenko, who took his small dog with him to a Minsk collection station, is pitted against four other candidates, none of whom have proven a serious challenge. But although there is no doubt about the outcome, he faces difficult choices in a new five-year term, which will be his seventh since 1994.
The war in Ukraine has bound him more tightly than ever to Russian President Vladimir Putin, with Lukashenko presenting his country as a launching morning for the 2022 invasion and later agreeing to let Moscow place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
Lukashenko said he saw “the light at the end of the tunnel” as Moscow and Kiev prepare for potential peace talks in which he said they would have to forego a compromise.
Asked if this was the last election, the 70-year-old former farm boss declined to give a direct answer. He said he “wasn't about to die,” and he didn't have a specific controversy in mind.
“When the time comes, we will think about this,” he said.
