One year ago CEC declared Lukashenka's victory as alternative count put Tsikhanouskaya far ahead


According to the Central Election Commission, Alyaksandr Lukashenka won 80.1% of the votes in the 2020 presidential election. According to the Holas (Voice) platform, he got 34%, while Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya got 56%.

Светлана Тихановская
Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya voting in Minsk. August 9, 2020.
Photo: Belsat

The Central Election Commission announced the final results of the presidential election of August 14, 2020. According to the results, Alyaksandr Lukashenka won the elections for the sixth time with 80.1% of the votes. Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya came second with 10.1%, Andrei Dzmitryieu received 1.2%, Hanna Kanapatskaya – 1.67%, Syarhei Cherachan – 1.14%, and 4.59% voted against all.

Dzmitryieu, Cherachan, Kanapatskaia, and Tsikhanouskaia filed complaints to the CEC about the non-recognition of the election. They were rejected, and Cherachen was not even admitted – his proxies were not allowed into the CEC. Lukashenka’s inauguration was held in secret and only on September 23.

What did the observers see?

Independent observers were basically not allowed to monitor the voting. Most of them were sent outside; some observed the voting through the windows, even with binoculars.

For the first time in the history of Belarus, independent observers were detained en masse. On the morning of the election day, we knew about 37 detained observers and 8 missing ones. Many of them were detained after the elections, some of them were tortured.

However, even some of the observers appointed by the authorities spoke about falsifications. Members of some electoral commissions issued the final protocols, where Tsikhanouskaya had won, and “leaked” photos, audio, and video of falsifications.

What was happening on the streets on this day a year ago

Mass protests began immediately after the elections; the security forces brutally dispersed peaceful demonstrations and tortured detainees en masse during the first few days.

On August 11, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya was deported to Lithuania against her will. On the 12th, the first peaceful women’s action was held in Minsk’s Kamarouka market; on the same day, the first detainees who spoke of torture were released.

As of August 14, at least five people had been killed or died in connection with the protests. Mass “chains of solidarity” and the first peaceful rallies, factory workers’ meetings, and medics’ actions took place across the country, from the capital to small localities. However, the first protest march of hundreds of thousands of people was still two days away. This is what happened on August 14:

How “Holas” conducted an alternate tally

The online platform Holas, together with the Zubr platform and the “Honest People” initiative, published a final report on the August 21, 2020, presidential election in Belarus.

Photo: TK / Belsat

Belarusians were invited to inform the platform of their choice, take pictures of their filled ballots and send them anonymously to Holas via the Internet. In total, 1,261,127 voters voted through “Holas,” and 1,047,933 confirmed their vote by telephone number.

Almost a year later, Holas published another study where it reviewed in detail its data from voters and the protocols of the election commissions.

Using protocols that were considered unfalsified based on the data from the voters, “Holas” extrapolated figures and stated that at least three million people voted for Tsikhanouskaya, or 56% of voters, while Lukashenka received 34% and other candidates got another 10%.

Researchers believe that the CEC did not have the real voting results, as falsifications took place at the level of precinct commissions. Therefore, analysts assume the real results of the elections are known only to the chairmen of the commissions, which means that no one knows the real results in the whole country.

belsat. eu

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