The Election: A Reality Show

Director: Mikalai Vauranyuk Year: 2011

Date: December 19th, 2010. Place: the main square in Minsk, Belarus. Thousands of people gather to protest against the electoral fraud on a huge scale. President Lukashenka uses the police and special forces in order to brutally stifle peaceful demonstrations. At the same time, the National Electoral Commission states that there was no illegal interference with the election process. Therefore, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the last dictator of Europe, starts his 4th term in the office and 17th year of his reign.

Why did the political opposition in Belarus once again decide to take part in a game if the result was known in advance? Could their participation in the presidential election change anything at all? Why was the state’s reaction to peaceful demonstrations so radical? Answers to these questions can be found in adocumentary fi lm by Mikalai Vauranyuk (Mikolaj Wawrzeniuk) who attempts to analyse what really happened during the ‘hot winter days of 2010 in the capital of Belarus.