No free democratic election had anyone expected, or even dared to dream of in Belarus (formerly called Belarus). But when the election campaign started during the late spring, there was suddenly a scent of freedom of choice in the air. Three new presidential candidates had emerged, candidates who seemed to be right, not the puppets that the president himself usually adds to give at least some glimpse of pluralism. The response of the Belarusian people came directly. In the streets around the country, people began to collect the hundreds of thousands of signatures required for a candidate to register.
Tired of the eternal dictatorAlexander Lukashenko has sat on the presidential throne for 26 years. Protests have occurred over the years but when opposition politicians, activists and journalists have been imprisoned or disappeared, passivity and resignation have taken over. But then a small window slid open and the citizens were immediately ready. Without placards or slogans, they stand in small clusters on the streets to show that they are tired of the freedom, the meditations, the repression and the eternal dictator.
Such stubborn and eager political commitment has not been shown by the Belarusian people since the 1990s.
Last Friday was the last day for collecting signatures. Seven candidates have submitted more than one hundred thousand names - but two of them have already been imprisoned. Popular blogger Syarhei Tsikhanouski was arrested in late May. His wife Svetlana took over the candidacy but was forced off the streets after serious threats to her safety. The businessman and former bank manager Viktar Babaryko, the candidate who emerged as a real challenger to Lukashenko, was arrested on Thursday, along with his 30-year-old son who was his campaign manager. By then several friends and old colleagues of Babaryko had already been arrested and prosecuted.
President Lukashenko usually takes on the hard gloves only when the election is over, but this time he seems more stressed. Opinion figures have fallen to the bottom after embarrassing denials of the corona pandemic and deteriorating economy. The cockroach is his desert name and while he is mocked in nasty memes online, people in the streets are waving slippers to show how a cockroach should be handled.
The president responds by arresting protesters, election workers and journalists. Most are released immediately, others are sentenced to 15-25 days in detention, where the coronavirus is now spreading rapidly in the narrow cells. Several who were released testify to abuse and torture in the repository. Yet the protests continue. There is and a month and a half left for the election when both sides now step up further. No one believes that Lukashenko voluntarily gives up power and with creeping discomfort is increasingly asking himself how he plans to get back the lid on the pot so that that little tempting smell of freedom no longer seeps out.