Elections in Belarusian style. They will cleanse every single one of them
The purge of presidential candidates in Belarus who are capable of providing at least some competition to Alexander Lukashenko has begun. The Belarusian Central Election Commission refused to register the former head of the IT park Valery Tsepkalo.
Of the 160 thousand signatures collected in his support, only 75 thousand were recognized as valid, and according to Belarusian legislation, 100 thousand are required to participate in the race. Tsepkalo is going to appeal the decision of the Central Election Commission, but it would be naive to hope for the fairness of the Belarusian court.
However, Lukashenko’s most serious competitor is not the former IT manager, but ex-banker Viktor Babariko. He collected 365 thousand signatures in his support. The CEC did not risk rejecting almost 300 thousand, limiting itself to 200 thousand, temporarily leaving him in the race.
Even though Babariko is now in a pre-trial detention center, he can formally be registered under Belarusian law. But miracles do not happen in Lukashenko’s Belarus.
“Tsepkalo burned out on signatures, and Babariko will burn out on income declarations,” prophesies political scientist Pyotr Petrovsky, close to the Belarusian president, who at one time predicted the arrest of the former banker.
In a comment under a post on his Facebook, he explained that Babariko’s income declaration would be the reason for refusing registration.
“The truth in the declaration means an admission of guilt. Falsity in the declaration will mean that it does not correspond to reality. Any of the options leads to non-registration,” Petrovsky wrote.
The telegram channel “Minsk Seven Boyars” suggests that Babariko’s income will be considered criminal, since he received it as chairman of the board of Belgazprombank, whose management is accused by Belarusian security forces of economic crimes. Thus, Babirko’s salary turns into money obtained by criminal means. And this is a reason to refuse registration.
After Babariko’s removal, there will only be one candidate left in the race for whom the Belarusian protest electorate could vote. This is Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the wife of a popular blogger who has been in jail for a month and today received another 15 days of arrest. Without his support, the housewife wife is unlikely to be able to defend the signatures collected in her defense or carry out an effective campaign.
A curious story happened with those candidates whom the authorities left in the race: Anna Konopatskaya and Sergei Cherechen. The Central Election Commission recognized 40 thousand more signatures as valid than they collected.
Belarusian historian Valery Karbalevich believes that this was done specifically to discredit these candidates if, beyond hope, the headless protest decides to raise one of them to the banners on the principle “if only not Lukashenko.”
There are already calls for the European Union to include three spoilers in the “blacklists” for “indirect participation in political fraud.”
“By continuing their participation in the “elections” with such obvious falsifications, they not only consciously and publicly agree with them, but also become accomplices in this crime. The Belarusian democratic community must be absolutely in solidarity on this issue and not allow the above-mentioned schemers to continue to exist in the political space of the country,” wrote pro-Western Belarusian political scientist Pavel Usov on his Facebook.
Observer Artem Shraibman believes that by not allowing Lukashenko’s main competitors to register, the authorities will not allow the prerequisites for a post-election Maidan Square to form.
On the other hand, such prudence demonstrates weakness.
“With such a number of signatures (the Central Election Commission claims that Lukashenko submitted almost 2 million signatures - ed.), with such public support, I don’t understand why you can be afraid of someone at all, remove from the race weak competitors who are gaining the unfortunate hundred thousand,” - loser Tsepkalo sneered at a press conference today.
In a situation where only Lukashenko and his spoilers remain on the ballot, the opinion of the people can only be judged by turnout. But the Belarusian Central Election Commission will easily complete it.
English version :: Read in English: Elections, Belarusian Style. They'll wipe out every last one.