'Belarusians Vote With Their Feet Against Lukashenka's Farce'

• 28.01.2025, 11:22

'Elections' did not take place.

Natallia Radzina, the Editor-in-Chief of Charter97.org, commented on the failed turnout in the so-called 'elections' in Belarus on Radio NV:

— Absolutely empty polling stations were recorded throughout Belarus on January 26. This is a very important fact, because it suggests that the absolute majority of Belarusians still oppose the Lukashenka regime. I admire the courage of Belarusians, because imagine, in such conditions, in a totalitarian state, the absolute majority ignores the elections. Can you imagine in the Soviet Union that more than 50% of citizens did not go to the so-called elections?

The situation in Belarus is much more complicated now than in the post-Stalin Soviet period. Repression is much tougher. And in this situation, it is a real heroism and a feat to vote with your feet in this way and not to participate in the farce organized by the dictator.

There was no turnout in these elections, they did not take place. Even the figures of the preliminary voting, which they called, were falsified. Because even the turnout for early voting in Belarus has always been inflated by the authorities, sometimes by almost tenfold. That is, I assume that approximately 15% of the population could be driven to these elections. To drive employees of state-owned enterprises, employees of the budgetary sphere, prisoners in colonies and prisons, some employees of law enforcement agencies. But we also received information that on the ground, heads of enterprises often sabotaged these decisions. And in fact, even the turnout of early voting is not true. In reality, I am convinced that less than 50% of the population participated in the elections, meaning they did not actually take place.

There have been no elections in Belarus for 30 years. Because since 1994, there has not been a single free and democratic election campaign in the country. The results of all presidential, parliamentary and local elections were falsified, and Europe did not recognize the results of these elections. Therefore, it is not surprising to us that the European Union has firmly stated that it does not recognize these elections. The unique situation this time is that on the eve of the vote on January 26, the European Parliament has already issued a resolution stating that these elections are not free and democratic and will not be recognized by the Western community. Because it was already quite obvious that this time even devoid of the usual scenery, which was during the previous election campaigns, this election is an absolute farce and, of course, it is impossible to recognize them.