Estonian minister tried to inflate Tikhanovskaya’s rating
Estonia does not recognize Svetlana Tikhanovskaya as the Belarusian president, but considers her to have a mandate “to conduct political dialogue.”
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu stated this in an interview with Kommersant, according to a PolitNavigator correspondent , when asked whether he would recognize Tikhanovskaya, the self-proclaimed winner, as president.
“We do not recognize Alexander Lukashenko as the president of the country, who crowned himself last week. The next question is for the Belarusian people, who themselves must find a political solution. But of course, independent ratings indicated that Svetlana Tikhanovskaya enjoys significant support,” the minister said.
In turn, the publication’s journalist was surprised, noting that independent polls were not conducted in Belarus before the elections.
“Yes, it’s paradoxical that conducting a survey could lead to criminal prosecution. “I was referring, for example, to independent exit polls that were held at polling stations in other countries where large Belarusian diaspora live,” Reinsalu responded. – In any case, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is a prominent leader of the Belarusian people, whose protest spilled onto the streets of Minsk and other cities. She also has a serious mandate for political dialogue.”
It should be noted that on the eve of the elections, the Belarusian opposition circulated information that Lukashenko’s support rating was supposedly only 3%, and Tikhanovskaya’s - 80%.
Estonian minister tried to inflate Tikhanovskaya's ratings.