2020 Belarusian presidential election

2020 Belarusian presidential election

← 2015 9 August 2020 Next →
Turnout84.28%
 
Nominee Alexander Lukashenko Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya
Party Independent Independent
Popular vote 4,661,075 588,619
Percentage 81.04% 10.23%

Official results by region

President before election

Alexander Lukashenko
Independent

Elected President

Alexander Lukashenko
Independent

Presidential elections were held in Belarus on Sunday, 9 August 2020. Early voting began on 4 August and ran until 8 August.[1]

Incumbent Alexander Lukashenko was announced by the Central Election Commission (CEC) to have won a sixth term in office, crediting him with just over 80% of the vote.[2] Lukashenko has won every presidential election since 1994,[3] with all but the first being labelled by international monitors as neither free nor fair.[4]

Opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya claimed to have won a decisive first-round victory with at least 60% of the vote, and called on Lukashenko to start negotiations. Her campaign subsequently formed the Coordination Council to facilitate a transfer of power and stated that it was ready to organize "long-term protests" against the official results.[5][6] All seven members of the Coordination Council Presidium were subsequently arrested or went into exile.

All opposition candidates have filed appeals to the Central Election Commission calling for the results to be invalidated.[7] The election was marred by claims of widespread electoral fraud.[8][9][10] Numerous countries refused to accept the result of the election, as did the European Union, which imposed sanctions on Belarusian officials deemed to be responsible for "violence, repression and election fraud".[11] The results of the election led to widespread protests.[12]

  1. ^ "Belarus Authorities Cancel Opposition Campaigning Ahead Of Election". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 5 August 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  2. ^ "Belarus Election Commission says Lukashenko was re-elected". Reuters.
  3. ^ "As Belarus Elects New Parliament, Lukashenka Says He Will Seek Another Presidential Term". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. 17 November 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC148 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Тихановская объявила себя победителем президентских выборов и предложила переговоры Лукашенко". meduza.io. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  7. ^ "Все кандидаты в президенты Беларуси, кроме Лукашенко, оспорили результаты выборов". meduza.io. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Belarus poll workers describe fraud in Aug. 9 election". AP. 1 September 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  9. ^ Jones, Mark P. (2018). Herron, Erik S; Pekkanen, Robert J; Shugart, Matthew S (eds.). "Presidential and Legislative Elections". The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190258658.001.0001. ISBN 9780190258658. Retrieved 21 May 2020. unanimous agreement among serious scholars that... Lukashenko's 2015 election occurred within an authoritarian context.
  10. ^ "Lukashenka vs. democracy: Where is Belarus heading?". AtlanticCouncil. 10 August 2020. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. However, the vote was marred by allegations of widespread fraud. These suspicions appeared to be confirmed by data from a limited number of polling stations that broke ranks with the government and identified opposition candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya as the clear winner.
  11. ^ "Belarus: EU imposes sanctions as Lukashenko orders police to clear the streets". Sky News. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  12. ^ Global Protest Tracker, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (website visited on 21 October 2021)
    Why wearing the wrong socks is risky in Belarus, BBC News (6 May 2021)

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