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Alyaksander Lukashenka addresses the 26th Annual OSCE Session in Minsk, 5 July 2017. Photo: OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. flickr.com
The protests attracting thousands of people, following the rigged presidential election on August 9th last year, which spread across Belarus – from the two-million population of Minsk to the town of Zhabinka with a population of several thousand – had the character of a mass social revolt. The 80 per cent of votes for Alyaksandr Lukashenka announced by his loyal Central Election Commission after the first round not only illustrated the dictator’s detachment from society, but also showed his unwillingness to admit his plunging support, as well as reflecting his desire to force society to remain in a patriarchal symbiosis. Instead of campaigning in residential areas and workplaces on the day before the vote, the president paid visits to the military and militia units, where he threatened to punish any form of resistance. And he meant it.