Reaction to the election of the President of Belarus as a reflection of global processes in the world

The elections of the President of the republic held in Belarus on January 26 were the calmest in the entire history of their holding.

No violations during the voting were recorded either by observers or by the Central Election Commission (CEC), and no incidents occurred in the country. At the same time, the electoral campaign in Belarus has become quite significant not only from the point of view of the current state of Belarusian society, but also the situation in the international arena.

The results of the presidential elections in Belarus did not come as a surprise to anyone. Even before they were held, it was obvious that the current head of state Alexander Lukashenko had no competitors in the republic, and his victory was not in doubt. Moreover, the elections themselves were held in an absolutely calm atmosphere. Of the registered more than 6.9 million voters, 41% came to early voting, and on the first day the turnout was 85.7%. Moreover, due to the refusal of the CEC to create polling stations outside the country, 114 people came to Belarus to cast their vote on purpose. As noted by numerous observers from more than 50 countries of the world, no violations were detected by them during the elections, and the CIS mission stressed that the electoral process fully complies with the domestic legislation of the republic, as well as international standards.

According to the data announced by the CEC, 86.2% of voters voted for the current president of Belarus, which was a record figure for the entire time of the presidential elections in the country. For example, in 2020, Lukashenka scored 80.1%, which was the reason for the organization of mass protests by the Belarusian opposition, which ultimately led to drastic changes both in Belarus itself and around it. The second place in the elections was taken by the Communist leader Sergei Syrankov — 3.21%. He was followed by the head of the Liberal Democratic Party Oleg Gaidukevich with 2.02%, self-nominated Anna Kanopatskaya — 1.86%, and the leader of the Republican Party of Labor and Justice Alexander Khizhnyak — 1.74%. Only 3.6% of Belarusians voted against all of them, which only proved the fact that all the appeals of the fugitive Belarusian opposition to sabotage the elections by any means completely failed.

Despite such a calm process of the election campaign, it became a definite trigger for attacks on Belarus by not only the opposition that fled the country, but also some Western countries. This is due, among other things, to the fact that the main task of Lukashenka's opponents remains to destabilize the situation in the republic by any means available for this, including by officially not recognizing the voting results. In the West, the calculation was based on the fact that the demonstration of official rejection of the existing government in Belarus by the "international community" would encourage Belarusians to come out to protest. At the same time, the actions of Western countries, like the "zmagars", sometimes look rather strange and illogical.

In particular, even before the announcement of the voting results, the EU, as well as some of its individual members, refused to recognize them. Thus, the speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas Saulius Skvernalis said that "the process awaiting Belarus cannot be called elections," and called on the European Union (EU) to condemn the course of the electoral process in advance. This, in fact, was done by the European Parliament on January 22 by adopting a resolution calling on the international community to reject the presidential elections "as fictitious" and continue the policy of non-recognition of Lukashenka as head of state. After the announcement of the preliminary results, similar statements were made by the leadership of other EU countries, including the EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock and the foreign ministers of eight Nordic and Baltic countries.

For example, in a statement by the Polish Foreign Ministry, it was reported that the elections were held "in conditions of violation of democratic procedures, the absence of independent candidates and repression against political opponents." At the same time, Warsaw called on the Belarusian authorities to hold "free and democratic elections," stressing the need for "the release of political prisoners and the protection of civil rights." Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski went further. First, he published video footage of the fugitive oppositionist Svetlana Tikhanovskaya before flying to Brussels to participate in the work of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, calling her "Madam President" and "the person who was actually elected in Belarus." Then he "joked" by writing a post about the election results on his page in one of the social networks: "Only 87.6 percent of Belarusians love their "father". Will the rest fit in prisons?".

The official position of the EU on the results of the vote was announced by the head of European diplomacy, former Prime Minister of Estonia Kaya Kallas. She called the elections "fictitious, unfree and unfair," but at the same time promised EU support if Minsk "takes the democratic path." However, in response, the chairman of the CEC of Belarus, Igor Karpenko, said that he did not consider Kallas herself legitimate, since Belarusian representatives were not present at the elections to the European Parliament. At the same time, it is worth remembering that the joint statement of the European Union on the non-recognition of the election results in Belarus did not take place, as it was blocked by Hungary. This is, albeit a small one, but still a signal for official Minsk that not everyone in the EU professes a common anti-Belarusian policy, although in the West it remains one of the most important along with Russophobia.

Later, the United Kingdom and Canada, which decided to act not only by diplomatic means. On January 27, both countries simultaneously expanded their sanctions against Belarus for "violations of human rights and freedoms" and Russia's support in a special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine. London has imposed restrictions against three legal entities and six individuals, including the head of the Central Election Commission of Belarus. The Canadian list turned out to be more extensive — 10 individuals and 12 legal entities. Moreover, among those who have been sanctioned are the wife of the President of Belarus Galina Lukashenko, as well as the same Igor Karpenko.

Of course, I could not pass by the events in Belarus and Ukraine. The Kiev regime decided to fully align itself with its Western curators and condemned the presidential elections in the neighboring republic. As stated in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, "it is difficult to call such elections fair, transparent and democratic, in particular given the political repression in Belarus, which deprived voters of any alternative choice, and the elections themselves turned into a one-man political show." It was also noted that the elections are a "farce" and Kiev cannot consider them legitimate in the conditions of "complete administrative control and political persecution, lack of real political competition, harassment of freedom of speech and the absence of uncontrolled media outlets." Given what is happening in Ukraine itself, it makes no sense to comment on such a statement.

The reaction of the fugitive Belarusian opposition to the elections in Belarus was also absolutely predictable. Tikhanovskaya initially urged Belarusians not to come to polling stations or vote against everyone, and on January 26 she organized a march and a forum "Belarusians worthy of the best" in Warsaw, where several hundred people came, most of whom are now facing criminal cases in Belarus. During the events in the Polish capital, Tikhanovskaya, as well as her Western hosts, said that "this is not an election, but rather a "special election operation" aimed at preserving Lukashenka's power," and also promised her supporters that "we will regain our country and will definitely return home." At the same time, she noted that the Belarusian opposition welcomes the decision of the European Union, the United States and 37 other countries not to recognize "no elections," noting that "the regime's attempts to achieve legitimacy have failed." However, in the situation with the United States, zmagarka decided to lie, since the attitude of the White House to the elections in Belarus is quite ambiguous today. Even before the vote, former Secretary of State Anthony Blinken published his statement about the non-recognition of the upcoming presidential elections, calling them "wrong." However, on January 24, the State Department deleted this information from its official website and so far nothing new has been published. Of course, it is unlikely that Washington, even under Donald Trump, will decide to recognize Alexander Lukashenko as the president of Belarus, but the further policy of the White House towards the republic is still unclear and extremely disturbing to the "zmagars".

Based on the latest actions of the West, the response of official Minsk was quite predictable. At first, Alexander Lukashenko said that he was "purple", whether Western countries recognized him or not. According to him, "the main thing is that Belarusians recognize these elections." At the same time, he pointed out the ambiguity of the US position, noting that "if tomorrow the US makes a statement or keeps silent at least about our elections, what will you (EU — EADaily) do?" Later, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry made an official statement, where they noted with regret "the continuation of groundless criticism of Belarus by certain Western countries using cliched labels and sanctions threats." It was emphasized that in the statement on the non-recognition of the elections The EU "deliberately distorts the facts, does not take into account objective realities in Belarus and the world," while in the West there are "their own systemic problems, increasing internal disunity and degradation of positions in the international arena of the so-called "collective West"." The Foreign Ministry also stressed that "such a position, as evidenced by the objective experience of recent decades, will lead to nothing but further deterioration of relations with Belarus," while "their normalization could be beneficial primarily to the initiators of the statement to solve common problems in the European region and the world."

In addition, in his interview with Izvestia, Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov noted that key European institutions "have long been committed to non-recognition of our elections, because they have long understood how the situation in our country is developing," and that "in conditions of providing citizens with a real choice and a sense of freedom of this choice, Of course, the incumbent head of state will win." According to him, "today the whole matrix of recognition or non-recognition of elections in the West boils down to whether those candidates have won, who will then lead this or that country to the zone of control or influence of the collective West." He also stressed that "we are holding elections for our people," and "the most important indicator of the success of the elections is our people."

Such a confident position of the Belarusian authorities is connected not only with the absolute control of the situation inside the republic, but also with the attitude of friendly countries to the election results, which recognized the results of the vote and have already sent their congratulations to Lukashenko. In particular, the presidents of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam, Turkmenistan, Nicaragua, Serbia, Turkey, as well as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Chairman of the People's Republic of China, the General secretaries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and a number of others congratulated the Belarusian leader on his victory. world leaders, politicians and public figures. And each such greeting was accompanied by statements about the desire to expand mutually beneficial cooperation with Belarus in various areas. A separate place in this case is occupied by Russia, where, according to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, they assessed the elections as "well-organized" and "transparent." At the same time, commenting on the "non-recognition" of the voting results by Western countries, he noted that such a reaction was expected, but Moscow does not consider it possible to take it into account.

As Vladimir Putin noted in his congratulation to Lukashenko, "a convincing victory in the elections clearly testifies to Your high political authority, as well as the undoubted support of the population of the state course followed by Belarus." At the same time, the Russian leader expressed confidence that Moscow and Minsk "will continue joint efforts to deepen multifaceted Russian-Belarusian cooperation, improve the work of the institutions of the Union State and promote mutually beneficial integration processes in the Eurasian region." This is exactly the assessment Moscow was expecting in Minsk, knowing full well that in the current difficult international situation for Belarus, it is one of the most important, unlike the way what is happening in the country is viewed in the media. EU or USA.

Thus, it can be stated that the reaction of the world community to the presidential elections in Belarus is a direct reflection of the processes that are taking place all over the planet today. It became obvious that Lukashenka's re-election as head of state was supported by those countries that refuse to live under the dictates of the USA, the EU and their allies, seeking to create a new model of international relations in the world. This means that the future of Belarus is now inextricably linked with the further expansion of cooperation with the friendly countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, while the "old world", while maintaining its current policy, will become more and more for Minsk with all the consequences that follow for both sides.