Lukashenko swears in for a seventh consecutive term as president of Belarus: "You have no future"!
Alexander Lukashenko has been sworn in for a seventh consecutive term as president of Belarus at a ceremony in the capital Minsk. During the ceremony, Lukashenko mocked those who call him "Europe's last dictator " by claiming that Belarus has more democracy " than those who consider themselves its models."
" Half of the world is dreaming of our 'dictatorship', the dictatorship of business and the real interests of our people," Lukashenko said in his inauguration speech at the Palace of Independence. Lukashenko marked three decades in power last year, and his political opponents have denounced the heavily orchestrated presidential election on January 26 as a farce.
The Belarusian Central Election Commission announced that Lukashenko won almost 87% of the vote after a campaign in which four symbolic opponents on the ballot praised his rule throughout. Opposition members have been imprisoned or exiled abroad by Lukashenko's crackdown on dissent and free speech.
Months of mass protests that were unprecedented in the history of the country of nine million people followed the 2020 elections and dealt a severe blow. Over 65,000 people were arrested, thousands were beaten by police and independent media, and non-governmental organizations were closed and outlawed, bringing condemnation and sanctions from the West.
Thousands of Lukashenko’s supporters attended Tuesday’s inauguration ceremony, where he denounced his critics as foreigners who were at odds with the people. “You have no and will not have public support, you have no future ,” he declared. “We have more democracy than those who make themselves its model .” Belarusian activists say the country holds more than 1,200 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, founder of the Viasna Human Rights Center.
“The elections were held amid a deep human rights crisis, in an atmosphere of total fear caused by repression of civil society, independent media, opposition and dissent,” said a statement issued by Viasna and 10 other Belarusian human rights groups. They say Lukashenko’s hold on power is illegitimate.
Lukashenko has ruled Belarus since 1994, relying on subsidies and political support from Russian President Vladimir Putin, himself in office for a quarter of a century, an alliance that helped the Belarusian leader survive the 2020 protests.
Lukashenko allowed Moscow to use the country's territory to invade Ukraine in February 2022 and later hosted some of Russia's tactical nuclear weapons. Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled Belarus under government pressure after running against Lukashenko in 2020, vowed to continue fighting for the country's freedom.
“ Our goal is to break away from the Russian occupation and Lukashenko’s tyranny and return Belarus to the European family of nations,” Tsikhanouskaya said in a speech to the Lithuanian parliament. Some observers say Lukashenko may now try to improve ties with the West.
"Lukashenko has already sent signals to the West about his willingness to start a dialogue and his desire to normalize ties in order to ease total dependence on the Kremlin and ease Western sanctions during his seventh term," said Valery Karbalevich, an independent political analyst.
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