Voting under way in Belarus with Lukashenko set to extend 30-year rule

In Belarus, polls are currently underway for a presidential election, with Alexander Lukashenko, a former leader, anticipating extending his more than three decades in power in the absence of any real opposition.

The country’s first presidential election since Lukashenko oversaw widespread protests against his government in 2020 and authorized Russia to invade Ukraine in 2022 on Sunday at 8am local time (05:00 GMT).

The former collective farm boss, who is now 70, is running for president in Belarus for a seventh term.

The country’s last presidential election in 2020 ended with nationwide protests, unprecedented in the history of the country of nine million people. Lukashenko was charged with rigging the election by the opposition and Western countries, and sanctions were imposed.

In response, his government launched a sweeping crackdown, leaving more than 1, 000 people imprisoned, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, founder of the Viasna Human Rights Centre.

The United Nations estimates that some 300, 000 Belarusians have left the country since 2020 – mostly to Poland and Lithuania. Because Belarus has banned voting abroad, they won’t be able to cast ballots.

Lukashenko told a crowd at a Minsk stadium on Friday that “everyone who opposes us and our enemies should understand: do not hope, we will never repeat what we did in 2020.”

“Tough democracy”

Speaking to reporters after casting his ballot in the capital, Minsk, Lukashenko said Belarus was a “tough democracy”.

“We don’t put pressure on anyone and we won’t silence anyone”, he added.

His comments came a day after Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, called the election a “sham” and said “Lukashenko doesn’t have any legitimacy”.

Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from a polling centre in Minsk, said the lead-up to the vote was marked by both a lack of enthusiasm and campaigning.

According to him, “Lukashenko himself has stated that he is too busy running the country to run a campaign.” He added that it was difficult to gauge the country’s mood because people appeared unwilling to speak out freely.

People seem to have no appetite for protest because they are aware of their own arrests, and international opposition groups have stated that this is not the right time to protest, according to Smith.

Smith did point out that the government had largely permitted foreign media to cover the election, which could indicate that Lukashenko might want to “try to repair relations with the West.”

He may realize that there might be a peace agreement [between Russia and] Ukraine later this year, and he wants to position Belarus for what might follow and what potential roles Belarus might play, Smith said.

‘ Europe’s last dictator ‘

Lukashenko’s iron-fisted rule, which began two years after the demise of the Soviet Union, earned him the nickname of “Europe’s last dictator” – which he embraces – relying on subsidies and political support from close ally Russia.

Few people are aware of the four candidates running against Lukashenko, who were chosen to give the election a sense of democracy. They support his rule and are loyal to him.

Sergei Syrankov, a candidate for the Communist Party who supports criminalizing LGBTQ activities and rebuilding monuments to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, said, “I am entering the race not against, but together with Lukashenko, and I am ready to serve as his vanguard.”

Candidate Alexander Khizhnyak, head of the Republican Party of Labour and Justice, led a voting precinct in Minsk in 2020 and promised to prevent a “repeat of disturbances”.

Oleg Gaidukevich, head of the Liberal Democratic Party, supported Lukashenko in 2020 and urged fellow candidates to “make Lukashenko’s enemies nauseous”.