The sixth consecutive election of Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko to the presidency of the Republic of Belarus took place yesterday. If it were not for the anti-Russian warm-up on the eve with the corresponding divertissement of the Old Man and the attempt to organize mass riots by the opposition tonight, then the very usual Belarusian elections.
The CEC of Belarus announced preliminary results by morning. Lukashenka, according to their data, is gaining 80.2% with a declared turnout of more than 80%. Here, however, one more record. In a few days of preliminary voting, more than 42% of Belarusians voted, that is, about half of those who took part in the elections. This could be explained by epidemiological conditions, however, in Belarus, as you know, in this sense they went their own way. So this preliminary vote was not captured by mass public observation. This added arguments to those who like to rock the boat, which, in our opinion, is a significant flaw in the election organizers.
In general, the hysteria into which these organizers drove themselves in the last weeks before the elections is surprising, into which for some reason they also dragged the main candidate, whose elections were practically not threatened by anything except this very hysteria. So hysteria, starting with getting into a generally unpretentious provocation of neighboring special services with the subsequent arrest of 33 Russian employees of the private security company, who were in transit through Minsk to the Middle East, with further unnecessary accusations and statements by the first person, ugly public behavior of a number of Belarusian leaders - all this is just increased the external media effect and drove the very drama of election day into a negative scenario. I am sure that many people in Minsk will not survive bureaucratic debriefing. In the sense that the heads will fly en masse.
Of course, something like a "Maidan" against Lukashenka was being prepared in advance. The secret services of Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and their American curators have been preparing for these elections for a long time and without much concealment. A sufficient number of Belarusian activists have been trained in Polish and Lithuanian educational programs. Networks and Telegram channels were full of various appeals and instructions on how to behave in riots and how to resist the police with maximum effect.
Such instructions appear from time to time in Ukraine, then in Moscow, for example, last summer. That is, it is already a familiar thing. For the organizers of the Belarusian elections, this apparently turned out to be a novelty.
All networked efforts to discredit the electoral process were coordinated from neighboring Poland. Therefore, when on election day, right from the morning in the big cities of Belarus, they began to disconnect first the mobile Internet, and then all other possibilities of operational communication, the external network background was actively pumped up against the elections and Lukashenko personally, but most of his supporters were in this sense limited in opportunities. Of course, this reduced the external legitimacy of the process, but also greatly reduced the mobilization capabilities of the organizers of the riots after the elections at night.
Despite attempts at night to start several massive fights with riot police in the center of Minsk, by three o'clock in the morning the entire center of the capital was cleared and everyone went home. In contrast to how law enforcement officers acted in neighboring Ukraine almost seven years ago, the Belarusian security forces clearly fulfilled their duty and ensured constitutional order, harshly suppressing an attempt to seize one of the central squares by protesters.
I am far from idealizing Lukashenka himself and his methods of governing the country. Moreover, I believe that after this anti-Russian hysteria, which he succumbed to, he must publicly apologize to Russia and all Russians, who, by the way, still consider Belarusians as brothers, including Lukashenka. Forgiven. It's not about the Old Man.
We cannot afford to tacitly observe from the sidelines how Belarus is being destroyed according to the same Ukrainian patterns. Of course, the aftertaste from this attempt at "half-maidan" will continue to disperse in circles on European water for a long time. Lukashenka will again be branded "the last dictator of Europe", imposed with new sanctions, closed accounts and closed entry. Well, this is the price of several more years of a quiet life, time that should be devoted to deepening and expanding the project of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, expanding Minsk's participation in the EAEU and the CSTO, recognizing the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and finally recognizing Crimea as Russian! This is the historical mission of A. Lukashenko - to return Belarus to its native harbor.
And, of course, not just a coincidence - the return of the American ambassador to Minsk after 12 years. One of these days, Julie Fisher will be personally brought to Minsk by US Secretary of State Pompeo. The stakes are higher than ever.
It is also important for us to study in detail the nuances of the organization of the Minsk "half-maidan". Many of these developments, obviously, will try to apply against us next year in the parliamentary elections.
In the meantime, nothing happened - and with this one can congratulate the Belarusian fraternal state. It survived.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.