Early presidential elections began in Belarus

On January 21, Belarus launched early voting in the presidential elections, which will last until January 25. Meanwhile, Western governments have criticized the elections as undemocratic, and the European Parliament is preparing a resolution to the situation in the country.

It was reported by Radio Svoboda.

Early presidential elections began in Belarus

The Central Election Commission of Belarus has announced that polling stations will be open from 12:00 to 19:00 during the early stage, while the main election day, scheduled for January 26, will last from 08:00 to 20:00.

The elections are taking place in a difficult environment of political crisis, repression and under the scrutiny of the international community, which doubts their democratic nature. Meanwhile, human rights activists and observers have said they believe that early voting will not be free of fraud, as the executive authorities are effectively forcing citizens to vote early and have already preliminarily formed "result plans" for each of the regions and businesses. 

Meanwhile, the Central Election Commission of Belarus stated that early voting is a widespread international practice, and representatives of the democratic forces of Belarus claimed that they would seek non-recognition of the results of these elections by the international community.

Alexander Lukashenko is running for President again

It is worth noting that Alexander Lukashenko has been the President of Belarus since 1994. He is running for President again. The preliminary results of the 2020 election, where he won, led to large-scale protests.

At the same time, opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was the candidate for President in the 2020 elections, fled to Lithuania after the repression. She was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison, and her husband to 18 years in prison. Another opposition candidate, Viktor Babaryk, was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

As a reminder, in late December, the CEC published the list of candidates for the presidential election in Belarus, where Alexander Lukashenko gained the lead in voter support. 

Also in January, it became known that Belarus did not invite OSCE observers to the elections.