Belarus is a
country situated between Ukraine and Russia in eastern Europe. This country gained
independence from USSR in 1991 and in 1994 this country adopted a new
Constitution which declared this country a democratic, social, republic. It
also granted many freedoms like freedom of speech, freedom of presses etc.
So according to the
constitution of 1994, this country was a democratic and liberal one. In the
same year free and fair elections were conducted in the country, just like any
other democratic country. And a politician known as Alexandra Lukashenko was
elected as the president of Belarus.
Alexander
Lukashenko is the only president in the entire independent history of Belarus.
There was no president elected before or after him. As even today this man
stands as one and only dictator of Belarus also known as last dictator of EU.
Two years after
getting elected as president Lukashenko, in November 1996 conducted a referendum,
which is considered as a fraud referendum and the public wasn’t really asked
their opinion. This was a stepping stone to pass the constitutional reforms.
He amended and
molded the ruled according to his benefit, most importantly transferring of
powers to president and making his position much more powerful even in
comparison with parliament. The prime minister became a nominal head only
And since then all
the elections held in Belarus were rigged and due to this Lukashenko kept on
getting reelected in the elections and hold position of power. In the history
of Belarus only the election held in 1994 are considered as free and fair.
Story of 26 Years
The economy of the
country was strictly controlled and monitored by the government .it was a
closed economy; hence private sector played a very minor role of only
contribution less than 20% in the GDP.
Belarus and Russia
have strong relations and economically Belarus is dependent on Russia or in
other words the country run due to constant support from Russia.
The country is
constantly pushed from one crisis to another. In 2011 the inflation reached 109%
due to financial mismanagement. In 2016 their GDP growth was running in negatives.
The issue of unemployment remains grave and unaddressed even today
When the question
of media comes into picture, the dictator has an absolute control over it. In
fact, Memo 98 -a media company revealed that in the period between May and
June, this year, 97% media coverage was given to Lukashenko and only the rest
3% to opposition.
Also, anyone who
joins protest or speaks against the president is treated like a terrorist. Many
people had tried to contest election against president Lukashenko since 2010
put they were put behind the bars or were disqualified to contest under some
pretext.
Election 2020
Presidential
elections were held in Belarus on 9th august 2020and Lukashenko had
already served as president for 5 terms and was contesting for the 6thone.
In election 2020
president Lukashenko faced a strong opposition. There were 3 candidates against
him and all were disqualified. The third candidate was Sergei Tikhanovsky he
was main opposition. The potential candidate was put behind the bars in end
May.
Thing looked smooth
from the point of view of dictator Lukashenko as there was no one against him.
But later Svetlana, wife of Sergei Tikhanovsky stated that since his husband is
locked up, she will stand in elections of 2020.
10 days before
election, the rally of Svetlana attracted approx. 10,000 people, lakhs people
turned up to support her. The arrested candidate also backed her.
On the day of
election no independent observer was called, no opinion polls were allowed, there
was a complete internet blackout which lasted for next few days.
There was no
surprise that next day when the results were declared they were a fraud as 80%
of votes was in favor of Lukashenko and won the election.
European Union, USA
and UK has openly stated that fraud was committed in the election of Belarus
2020. EU also added that it would declare sanctions against Belarus due to
fraud election.
Svetlana Tikhanovskay
fled the country to a neighboring country Lithuania, after declaration of
election results for safety of her kids and her own.
Slipper Revolution
After what all
happened in election 2020 in Belarus and the potential candidate leaving the country,
citizen of the country took this as a wake-up call for the long facing problem.
They came out on streets
for mass protests lead to beginning of slipper revolution also known as
anti-cockroach movement. The reason behind giving this terminology is because
Sergei Tikhanovsky who is a youtuber, he compared Lukashenko as cockroach who
should be thrown out.
The interesting
fact is though more than ten thousands of people gathered in Belarusian protest
the nature of the protest was peaceful. The demand was clear, as they wanted
recounting of votes in the election. Both the response from the side of
Lukashenko on a contrary was violent enough.
The violent
response included lathi charge, grenades were thrown, use of tear gas, rubber
bullets and water cannons. All of these were deployed against the peaceful
protesters. Not only that there were more than 7000 of people who were arrested
for going against the President.
The treatment of
arrested people was a grave abuse of human rights as they were tortured and not
given food for several days.
Clearly the country
was falling apart and as an add on to the whole situation workers of government
companies join the hands with protesters. The loyal ones of Lukashenko stopped
coming to work. They went on strike.
Hence if I
summarize this, I want to ask you that did this struggle by people of Belarus
for democracy, free and fair election, standing for their rights and standing
against a dictator gave you a Deja vu.
My answer would be,
yes, as history has very clearly shown us all that dictator like Alexander
Lukashenko never stand for long when people stand for their rights and ask
questions and so mass protests.
Written by - Shalaka
Pathak
Edited by - Adrija Saha
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