Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka has no intention to move the upcoming presidential election to a later date.
“We have no reason for postponing [the event]; in accordance with the Constitution, there is no option to put off this election. Therefore, we will hold the election, soon we will fix the date. It is due this summer. The deadline is the end of August,” he said during Monday’s videoconference with his Moldovan counterpart Igor Dodon.
As reported earlier, after the 2019 parliamentary elections in Belarus, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) published its final report offering 32 recommendations to improve the conduct of elections and increase the transparency of and public confidence in the electoral process. Since 1996, the OSCE has not recognised a single election campaign in our country as free and democratic.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka has been President of Belarus since 1994. Currently, a number of Belarusian opposition activists are trying to unite in selecting a single candidate for the 2020 presidential election. However, amid the coronavirus outbreak, the voters’ activity is extremely low.
Meanwhile, the Belarusian leadership is hardly following WHO instructions on preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus: even mild quarantine measures have not been imposed; sports events are taking place; the authorities are getting ready to involve 3,000 persons and stage a Victory parade on May, 9. At the same time, it is not ruled out that the pandemic will have a negative impact on Lukashenka’s plans as well: in the worst-case scenario, his careless attitude to the COVID-19 threat might do him a disservice when Belarusians go to the polls.
