World

Loyalists sweep Belarus vote as opposition takes no seats

November 18, 2019

MINSK — Candidates loyal to Belarus's authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko have swept to victory in a parliamentary election, results showed on Monday, with the opposition failing to take a single seat.

Critics had already denounced Sunday's vote as a fraud and said it was rife with violations, despite Lukashenko's recent efforts to reach out to the West.

Official results released on Monday showed parties loyal to Lukashenko taking all 110 seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of a parliament dubbed a rubber stamp by critics.

The opposition had previously held two seats in the chamber.

More than half of the new deputies were representatives of the executive branch including officials and journalists working for state media.

Among the most prominent new lawmakers was the 22-year-old Miss Belarus 2018, Maria Vasilevich, who has been frequently seen accompanying Lukashenko at official events in recent months.

The 65-year-old Lukashenko — who has been dubbed "Europe's last dictator" — has ruled the ex-Soviet nation since 1994 and overseen a series of elections that international observers have deemed unfair.

The country is set to hold a presidential election next year and as he cast his ballot on Sunday Lukashenko confirmed he would again be a candidate.

He said he understood that Western countries would be watching the parliamentary vote but that it was Belarusians who would have the last word.

"We hold this vote in our country for our people, to make things better, and we hold it in the way we understand."

Those critical of Lukashenko faced little choice at the ballot box, with the main opposition leaders and the only two current opposition MPs barred from standing.

Nikolai Kozlov, the leader of the United Civic Front opposition party and a failed candidate in the vote, denounced the election as a sham.

"With these shameless and cynical falsifications, the authorities are leaving people no choice — they are pushing people out into the streets," he said on Monday.

An election monitoring campaign organized by opposition parties reported multiple violations on voting day, including officials inflating voter numbers.

"The Belarusian system of election falsifications has been honed to perfection," Pavel Usov, head of the Warsaw-based Centre for Political Analysis and Prognosis, said.

"No one votes, no one counts the votes, but there is a result which no one is able to contest."

Rights activists monitoring the vote complained observers were thrown out, banned from taking photographs and had their view blocked.

According to the authorities, more than 35 percent of the 6.8 million electorate voted ahead of polling day. Overall turnout reached 77 percent, according to the official results.

In recent months Lukashenko has been making renewed attempts to reach out to Western nations, which have been critical of his record on human rights and democracy.

He made a rare visit to western Europe this month, meeting Austrian leaders in Vienna and saying he wanted the European Union to be "an important political and business partner" for his country.

He also hosted then White House national security advisor John Bolton for rare talks in Minsk in August, saying a "new chapter" was opening in ties with Washington.

Lukashenko is seeking a counterweight in relations with giant neighbor Russia, which is keen to ensure Belarus remains in its sphere of influence.

The countries have formed a nominal "union", with close trade and military cooperation, but Lukashenko has opposed outright unification.

EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic has said the bloc was watching Sunday's election closely.

But there was little optimism among foreign observers for a more democratic vote.

People did not expect polls to be "genuinely competitive" and "had little confidence in the process", the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, an international election and war monitor, said in a preliminary report. — AFP


November 18, 2019
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