The Strategist

Tsikhanouskaya: I am ready to become National Leader of Belarus



08/17/2020 - 10:17



The main rival of President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko in the presidential elections, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, announced her readiness to become the national leader of Belarus during the period of power change. She spoke about this in a new video message.



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“I am ready to take responsibility and act as a national leader during this period in order for the country to calm down and enter into a normal rhythm. So that we release all political prisoners and, as soon as possible, prepare the legislative framework and conditions for organizing new presidential elections - real, fair and transparent elections that will be unconditionally accepted by the world community,” she said.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya added that she never had any illusions about her political career and did not want to be a politician. “But fate decreed that I was on the very front line of confrontation with arbitrariness and injustice. Fate and you, you who believed in me, who gave me strength. And now every minute I admire your courage, your self-organization and how strong and bright you are,” she said. According to Tsikhanouskaya, she “absolutely” knows why people voted for her: “We all want to get out of this endless circle in which we found ourselves 26 years ago” (Alexander Lukashenko first became president of Belarus in 1994).

“The most important thing is the independence of Belarus, it is that constant that cannot be lost under any circumstances,” Tsikhanouskaya concluded.

According to the official data of the Central Election Commission of Belarus, Tsikhanouskaya took second place in the presidential elections and received 10% of the vote. Lukashenko was declared the winner with a score of 80%. The official results aroused mistrust among the Belarusians, and protest actions began on Sunday evening, August 9. In the early days, they faced tough opposition from the security forces, who used, among other things, flash-noise grenades, rubber bullets, and in some cases  - service weapons (as the Ministry of Internal Affairs assures, for the self-defense of law enforcement officers). More than 7,000 people were detained. But then the tension eased, and peaceful actions went on. On August 16, two protests were held in Minsk at once. Those were Lukashenko's supporters and the action of solidarity, which, according to Belarusian journalists, gathered about 200,000 people, which is an unprecedented result for Belarus.

Tsikhanouskaya left Belarus for Lithuania after spending several hours in the electoral committee’s building with representatives of the state security agencies. On August 14, she announced the beginning of the creation of a coordinating council for the "peaceful transfer of power" in Belarus. 

source: forbes.com




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