Belarusian presidential election, 2006
Encyclopedia
Presidential elections were held in Belarus
on 19 March 2006. The result was a victory for incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko
, who received 84.4% of the vote. However, western observers deemed the elections rigged. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE) declared that the election "failed to meet OSCE commitments for democratic elections." However, election observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) described the vote as open and transparent.
approved the following list of candidates:
and United States Congress
issued warnings that Belarus may expect more sanctions and similar punitive actions in the case of violation of human rights
during the elections. The United States already has sanctions on Belarus due to past election issues, as stated in the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004
, which also allows it to provide assistance to political parties and NGOs. The CIS
observer mission at the Belarusian presidential elections commented that "the negative statements made in the EU and the United States are attempts to create predetermined negative sentiments in the international community toward elections results in Belarus. Such actions towards a sovereign state hardly comply with standards of international law," according to the same election monitoring body. The OSCE have also sent monitors to Belarus to observe the elections and to make sure the elections are free from any irregularities.
On 2 March 2006, opposition candidate Alaksandar Kazulin
attempted to enter the third meeting of the All Belarusian People's Assembly
, which was hosted by President Lukashenko. Security officers arrested and beat Kazulin, who was charged with disorderly conduct, and then held in custody for eight hours.
In the build-up to the elections, several Georgians
who were part of the OSCE observer team were intercepted by the Belarusian Frontier Guard and placed under custody. Lukashenko also announced that protests similar to what occurred during the Orange
, Rose
and Tulip
revolutions will not take place in Belarus and states that "force will not be used" to claim the presidency.
Lukashenko was sworn in for his third term on 8 April 2006.
", promising not to jail Milinkevich and Kozulin.
On 23 March the Constitutional Court of Belarus rejected the opposition's appeals. Lukashenko will be inaugurated on Monday.
On 24 March Belarusian police broke up days of protests in central Minsk against President Lukashenko's re-election, detaining about 460 demonstrators in an early hours swoop. The demonstrators had rejected police calls to leave the square, focus of the protests. They had erected tents and kept protesting round the clock despite sub-zero temperatures at night. One of the detained protesters called Reuters by mobile phone and said they were being taken to a pre-trial detention centre in the capital.
On 25 March riot police clashed with protesters, forcing demonstrators back and hitting several with truncheons. One of the protesters was killed in the fight. Four explosions were heard, apparently percussion grenades set off by police. Many protesters were detained, including one of the opposition leaders, Alexander Kozulin, Russian news agencies reported. The main opposition leader, Alexander Milinkevich, denied reports by Russian news agencies that he himself was detained.
On 29 March Gazeta.ru reported that opposition leader Kozulin is arrested and can get up to 6 years in jail for organizing riots and hooliganism. Milinkevich can get 15 days for hooliganism.
According to Moscow News, two journalists of the Belarus state television channel allegedly beaten by opposition forces during an unsanctioned rally in Minsk are currently in hospital with severe injuries, RIA Novosti said Monday. Reporter of First Belarusian State Channel Mikhail Kristin has suffered a concussion, and cameraman Dmitry Chumak has a spine injury. Both are in hospital, the Belarusian State Television company said. The journalists were injured during the Saturday unrest in the Belarus capital. Members of opposition called it a lie.
, waving the banned white-red-white flag of independent Belarus, the flag of the European Union, as well as flags of other countries such as Ukraine
, Poland
, Russia
, Georgia
, and even Armenia
.
The crowd of demonstrators rallying after the election - estimated at 5,000 to 10,000 - was the biggest the opposition had mustered in years. The next day a tent camp was erected on October Square in downtown Minsk. The number of participants in the opposition rally varied from 300 in the morning to 5,000 in the evening. The main opposition leaders had called for the protests to keep up until Saturday, when a major rally is expected, coinciding with the anniversary of the creation of first independent Belarusian republic
in 1918. Despite this, on Friday night riot police were dispatched to the site of the protest and 377 (460, according to other sources) participants and journalists were arrested, effectively dismantling the demonstration. Most of the arrested people were sentenced to between 5 and 15 days in prison. There were Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Canadian, and Georgian citizens among the arrested. The protests were documented in the movie "The Square
" by filmmaker Yury Khashchavatski.
On Saturday tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, as the police had closed off October Square. Opposition leader Alaksandar Kazulin was arrested. One of the demonstators was killed when the riot police dispersed the crowd.
report released on March 20, 2006, concluded that the presidential election failed to meet OSCE commitments for democratic elections. The OSCE, of which Belarus is a member, stated that Lukashenko permitted State authority to be used in a manner which did not allow citizens to freely and fairly express their will at the ballot box, and a pattern of intimidation and the suppression of independent voices was evident.
On 21 March the United States stated that it believed that the election was rigged. In the words of White House spokesman Scott McClellan, "The United States does not accept the results of the election. We support the call for a new election."
Czech President Václav Klaus
decided not to congratulate Lukashenko on re-election as president as "the course of the presidential elections on Sunday confirmed his fears for democracy in Belarus". Klaus previously criticized "very disputable circumstances of the parliamentary elections and the changes in the constitution that allowed Lukashenko to run for the post again after two election terms" in his open letter to Lukashenko last year. Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda proposed inviting opposition leader Alyaksander Milinkevich to the EU summit. As his proposal did not succeed he initiated invitation of Milinkevich to the European People's Party meeting that will take place prior the EU summit.
According to the Czech News Agency
, Jan Rybar, reporter of the Czech daily Mlada fronta Dnes
, was attacked and beaten up at the opposition demonstration in Minsk... He said in his opinion he had been beaten up by agents of the Belarusian secret police KGB, but has no direct piece of evidence to prove it.
On 23 March American diplomats evacuated Vyacheslav Sivchik, one of the organizers of the opposition meeting, from Oktyabrskaya Square.
On 24 March EU
leaders agreed at a summit to impose sanctions on Belarus leaders, including a possible travel ban on Lukashenko, after his victory in a disputed presidential election on Sunday. Officials said Lukashenko had won more than 80% of the vote. A statement from the 25 leaders called the country "a sad exception ... on a continent of open and democratic societies" and said the election had violated democratic norms. "The European council has decided to take restrictive measures against those responsible for the violations of international electoral standards, including President Lukashenko," the Austrian foreign minister, Ursula Plassnik
, said after the EU summit. She gave no details, but EU officials said measures being considered included visa bans on those accused of allegedly rigging the poll and possible asset freezes, but not economic sanctions against the former Soviet republic.
Lukashenko will be banned from entering the 25 nations of the EU - including Belarus' neighbours, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania - and from the US. EU diplomats are drawing up a list of Belarusian officials who will be targeted by "smart sanctions" and final decisions will be taken on 10 April.
called Lukashenko to congratulate him on his victory.
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned alleged OSCE bias, saying "The biased verdict of the OSCE, Europe's main election monitoring organization, on the presidential election in Belarus highlights the need to improve the process of observing polls, an official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. "We believe that the biased nature of the verdict of the monitoring mission has again confirmed the importance of beginning, at last, focused work to correct shortcomings in the election monitoring practice," Mikhail Kamynin said referring to a decision made by foreign ministers of the 55-nation security grouping in December last year. On 24 March Sergey Lavrov
accused OSCE of instigating tensions during the parliamentary election campaign in Belarus, claiming that "long before the elections, the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights had declared that they (the elections) would be illegitimate and it was pretty biased in its commentaries on their progress and results, thus playing an instigating role." It was one of many Russian criticisms of the trans-Atlantic group's vote monitoring activities.
Pro-government press and organizations lauded the outcome as a defeat of "orange"
political technologies, whereas the liberal opposition traditionally condemned Lukashenko's actions. On March 26, about ten people from liberal movements and parties, joined by occasional passers-by, attempted to carry out an unsanctioned demonstration in support of the Belarusian opposition near the building of the Ministry of International Affairs, but were quickly dispersed by authorities.
Reflecting a widespread belief among journalists, Russian commentator Piotr Parhomenko wrote in lenta.ru that Lukashenko's decision to allow the opposition demonstration was a move calculated to divide the opposition, as Kozulin wanted to stop the protests while Milinkevich called for them to go on indefinitely.
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
on 19 March 2006. The result was a victory for incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko has been serving as the President of Belarus since 20 July 1994. Before his career as a politician, Lukashenko worked as director of a state-owned agricultural farm. Under Lukashenko's rule, Belarus has come to be viewed as a state whose conduct is out of line...
, who received 84.4% of the vote. However, western observers deemed the elections rigged. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is the world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, human rights, freedom of the press and fair elections...
(OSCE) declared that the election "failed to meet OSCE commitments for democratic elections." However, election observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
(CIS) described the vote as open and transparent.
Candidates
On 17 February 2006, the Central Election CommissionCentral Election Commission of Belarus
The Central Election Commission of the Republic of Belarus is the superior power body responsible for conducting national elections and overseeing local elections in Belarus.-International Cooperation:...
approved the following list of candidates:
- Alexander LukashenkoAlexander LukashenkoAlexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko has been serving as the President of Belarus since 20 July 1994. Before his career as a politician, Lukashenko worked as director of a state-owned agricultural farm. Under Lukashenko's rule, Belarus has come to be viewed as a state whose conduct is out of line...
: incumbent, in office since 1994, not associated with any party. - Alaksandar MilinkievičAlaksandar MilinkievicAliaksandr Uładzimiravič Milinkevič is a Belarusian politician. He was nominated by the leading opposition parties in Belarus to run against incumbent Alexander Lukashenko in the presidential election on 19 March 2006.-Biography:...
: challenger, candidate from an opposition union, United Democratic Forces of BelarusUnited Democratic Forces of BelarusThe United Democratic Forces of Belarus is a coalition of political parties participating as the main opposition group during the 2006 presidential election...
. - Sergei GaidukevichSergei GaidukevichSergei Gaidukevich was the Liberal Democratic Party candidate in the 2006 elections for the office of President of Belarus, as well as in 2001 elections....
: Liberal Democratic Party. - Alaksandar KazulinAlaksandar KazulinAlaksandr Kazulin , is the former leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party and one of the candidates who ran for the office of President of Belarus on March 19, 2006....
: Belarusian Social Democratic Party.
Former candidates
- Zyanon Paznyak: withdrew on 26 January
- Valeri Frolov: withdrew on 1 February in favor of Kazulin
- Aleksandr Voitovich: withdrew on 9 January
- Sergei Skrebets: withdrew in late January, supports Kazulin
Preceding events
Both the European ParliamentEuropean Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
and United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
issued warnings that Belarus may expect more sanctions and similar punitive actions in the case of violation of human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
during the elections. The United States already has sanctions on Belarus due to past election issues, as stated in the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004
Belarus Democracy Act of 2004
The Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 is a United States federal law that authorizes assistance for political parties, non-governmental organizations, and independent media working for democracy and human rights in Belarus. The act was signed by President George W. Bush and passed unanimously by the U.S...
, which also allows it to provide assistance to political parties and NGOs. The CIS
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
observer mission at the Belarusian presidential elections commented that "the negative statements made in the EU and the United States are attempts to create predetermined negative sentiments in the international community toward elections results in Belarus. Such actions towards a sovereign state hardly comply with standards of international law," according to the same election monitoring body. The OSCE have also sent monitors to Belarus to observe the elections and to make sure the elections are free from any irregularities.
On 2 March 2006, opposition candidate Alaksandar Kazulin
Alaksandar Kazulin
Alaksandr Kazulin , is the former leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party and one of the candidates who ran for the office of President of Belarus on March 19, 2006....
attempted to enter the third meeting of the All Belarusian People's Assembly
All Belarusian People's Assembly
The All Belarusian People's Assembly is a general meeting of the Belarusian Government with industry leaders and other top officials from every sector of the government. The citizens of Belarus are also permitted to take part of the discussion...
, which was hosted by President Lukashenko. Security officers arrested and beat Kazulin, who was charged with disorderly conduct, and then held in custody for eight hours.
In the build-up to the elections, several Georgians
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
who were part of the OSCE observer team were intercepted by the Belarusian Frontier Guard and placed under custody. Lukashenko also announced that protests similar to what occurred during the Orange
Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter...
, Rose
Rose Revolution
The "Revolution of Roses" was a change of power in Georgia in November 2003, which took place after having widespread protests over the disputed parliamentary elections...
and Tulip
Tulip Revolution
The Tulip Revolution or First Kyrgyz Revolution refers to the overthrow of President Askar Akayev and his government in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan after the parliamentary elections of February 27 and of March 13, 2005...
revolutions will not take place in Belarus and states that "force will not be used" to claim the presidency.
Results
On 19 March 2006 exit polls showed Lukashenko winning a third term in a landslide, amid opposition claims of vote-rigging and fear of violence. The EcooM organization gave Lukashenko 84.2% of the vote and Milinkievich just 2 percent, while the Belarusian Committee of Youth Organizations gave Lukashenko 84.2% and Milinkievich 3.1 percent. The Gallup Organization has noted that EcooM and the Belarusian Committee of Youth Organizations are government-controlled and both released their exit poll results before noon on election day, although voting stations closed at 8 p.m.| Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko has been serving as the President of Belarus since 20 July 1994. Before his career as a politician, Lukashenko worked as director of a state-owned agricultural farm. Under Lukashenko's rule, Belarus has come to be viewed as a state whose conduct is out of line... |
Independent | 5,501,249 | 84.4 |
| Alexander Milinkievič | United Democratic Forces of Belarus United Democratic Forces of Belarus The United Democratic Forces of Belarus is a coalition of political parties participating as the main opposition group during the 2006 presidential election... |
405,486 | 6.2 |
| Sergei Gaidukevich Sergei Gaidukevich Sergei Gaidukevich was the Liberal Democratic Party candidate in the 2006 elections for the office of President of Belarus, as well as in 2001 elections.... |
Liberal Democratic Party | 230,664 | 3.5 |
| Alaksandar Kazulin Alaksandar Kazulin Alaksandr Kazulin , is the former leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party and one of the candidates who ran for the office of President of Belarus on March 19, 2006.... |
Belarusian Social Democratic Party | 147,402 | 2.3 |
| Against all | 230,320 | 3.5 | |
| Invalid/blank votes | 115,532 | – | |
| Total | 6,630,653 | 100 | |
| Source: Nohlen & Stöver | |||
Lukashenko was sworn in for his third term on 8 April 2006.
Belarusian authorities
Belarusian authorities initially vowed to crush unrest in the event of large-scale protests following the election. Since then, however, they have decided to use more subtle methods of attrition to subdue protesters. Lukashenko declared victory and defeat of "The Jeans RevolutionJeans Revolution
The Jeans Revolution was a term used by the democratic opposition in Belarus and their supporters in the West to describe their effort and aspirations as regarding democratic changes in Belarus at the presidential elections of 2006...
", promising not to jail Milinkevich and Kozulin.
On 23 March the Constitutional Court of Belarus rejected the opposition's appeals. Lukashenko will be inaugurated on Monday.
On 24 March Belarusian police broke up days of protests in central Minsk against President Lukashenko's re-election, detaining about 460 demonstrators in an early hours swoop. The demonstrators had rejected police calls to leave the square, focus of the protests. They had erected tents and kept protesting round the clock despite sub-zero temperatures at night. One of the detained protesters called Reuters by mobile phone and said they were being taken to a pre-trial detention centre in the capital.
On 25 March riot police clashed with protesters, forcing demonstrators back and hitting several with truncheons. One of the protesters was killed in the fight. Four explosions were heard, apparently percussion grenades set off by police. Many protesters were detained, including one of the opposition leaders, Alexander Kozulin, Russian news agencies reported. The main opposition leader, Alexander Milinkevich, denied reports by Russian news agencies that he himself was detained.
On 29 March Gazeta.ru reported that opposition leader Kozulin is arrested and can get up to 6 years in jail for organizing riots and hooliganism. Milinkevich can get 15 days for hooliganism.
According to Moscow News, two journalists of the Belarus state television channel allegedly beaten by opposition forces during an unsanctioned rally in Minsk are currently in hospital with severe injuries, RIA Novosti said Monday. Reporter of First Belarusian State Channel Mikhail Kristin has suffered a concussion, and cameraman Dmitry Chumak has a spine injury. Both are in hospital, the Belarusian State Television company said. The journalists were injured during the Saturday unrest in the Belarus capital. Members of opposition called it a lie.
Belarusian opposition
After the results were announced, a mass rally assembled in October Square in MinskMinsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
, waving the banned white-red-white flag of independent Belarus, the flag of the European Union, as well as flags of other countries such as Ukraine
Flag of Ukraine
The flag of Ukraine is the national flag of Ukraine. The national flag was officially adopted for the first time in 1918 by a short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic. At that time the commonly used yellow–blue flag had already turned into blue and yellow and sported a trident in the upper left...
, Poland
Flag of Poland
The flag of Poland consists of two horizontal stripes of equal width, the upper one white and the lower one red. The two colors are defined in the Polish constitution as the national colors. A variant of the flag with the national coat of arms in the middle of the white stripe is legally reserved...
, Russia
Flag of Russia
The flag of Russia is a tricolour flag of three equal horizontal fields, white on the top, blue in the middle and red on the bottom. The flag was first used as an ensign for Russian merchant and war ships and only became official in 1896...
, Georgia
Flag of Georgia (country)
The official flag of Georgia is the "five-cross flag", restored to official use on January 14, 2004, after a break of some 500 years...
, and even Armenia
Flag of Armenia
The national flag of Armenia, the Armenian Tricolour , consists of three horizontal bands of equal width, red on the top, blue in the middle, and orange on the bottom. The Armenian Supreme Soviet adopted the current flag on 24 August 1990...
.
The crowd of demonstrators rallying after the election - estimated at 5,000 to 10,000 - was the biggest the opposition had mustered in years. The next day a tent camp was erected on October Square in downtown Minsk. The number of participants in the opposition rally varied from 300 in the morning to 5,000 in the evening. The main opposition leaders had called for the protests to keep up until Saturday, when a major rally is expected, coinciding with the anniversary of the creation of first independent Belarusian republic
Belarusian National Republic
The Belarusian People's Republic was a self-declared independent Belarusian state, which declared independence in 1918. It is also called the Belarusian Democratic Republic or the Belarusian National Republic, in order to distinguish it from Communist People's Republics...
in 1918. Despite this, on Friday night riot police were dispatched to the site of the protest and 377 (460, according to other sources) participants and journalists were arrested, effectively dismantling the demonstration. Most of the arrested people were sentenced to between 5 and 15 days in prison. There were Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Canadian, and Georgian citizens among the arrested. The protests were documented in the movie "The Square
Kalinovski Square (film)
Kalinovski Square is an award-winning 2007 documentary film by Belarusian filmmaker Yury Khashchavatski. The film takes a critical look at the re-election of Alexander Lukashenko in March 2006, featuring especially the protests that occurred after the election was found to be fraudulent...
" by filmmaker Yury Khashchavatski.
On Saturday tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, as the police had closed off October Square. Opposition leader Alaksandar Kazulin was arrested. One of the demonstators was killed when the riot police dispersed the crowd.
Western countries
The official OSCEOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is the world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, human rights, freedom of the press and fair elections...
report released on March 20, 2006, concluded that the presidential election failed to meet OSCE commitments for democratic elections. The OSCE, of which Belarus is a member, stated that Lukashenko permitted State authority to be used in a manner which did not allow citizens to freely and fairly express their will at the ballot box, and a pattern of intimidation and the suppression of independent voices was evident.
On 21 March the United States stated that it believed that the election was rigged. In the words of White House spokesman Scott McClellan, "The United States does not accept the results of the election. We support the call for a new election."
Czech President Václav Klaus
Václav Klaus
Václav Klaus is the second President of the Czech Republic and a former Prime Minister .An economist, he is co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party, the Czech Republic's largest center-right political party. Klaus is a eurosceptic, but he reluctantly endorsed the Lisbon treaty as president of...
decided not to congratulate Lukashenko on re-election as president as "the course of the presidential elections on Sunday confirmed his fears for democracy in Belarus". Klaus previously criticized "very disputable circumstances of the parliamentary elections and the changes in the constitution that allowed Lukashenko to run for the post again after two election terms" in his open letter to Lukashenko last year. Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda proposed inviting opposition leader Alyaksander Milinkevich to the EU summit. As his proposal did not succeed he initiated invitation of Milinkevich to the European People's Party meeting that will take place prior the EU summit.
According to the Czech News Agency
Czech News Agency
The Czech News Agency , abbreviated to ČTK, is a national "public law" news agency in the Czech Republic. It publishes in Czech, Slovak, and English....
, Jan Rybar, reporter of the Czech daily Mlada fronta Dnes
Mladá fronta DNES
Mladá fronta Dnes, also known as MF DNES or simply Dnes , is the second most sold daily newspaper in the Czech Republic. Its name could be translated into English as Youth Front Today...
, was attacked and beaten up at the opposition demonstration in Minsk... He said in his opinion he had been beaten up by agents of the Belarusian secret police KGB, but has no direct piece of evidence to prove it.
On 23 March American diplomats evacuated Vyacheslav Sivchik, one of the organizers of the opposition meeting, from Oktyabrskaya Square.
On 24 March EU
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
leaders agreed at a summit to impose sanctions on Belarus leaders, including a possible travel ban on Lukashenko, after his victory in a disputed presidential election on Sunday. Officials said Lukashenko had won more than 80% of the vote. A statement from the 25 leaders called the country "a sad exception ... on a continent of open and democratic societies" and said the election had violated democratic norms. "The European council has decided to take restrictive measures against those responsible for the violations of international electoral standards, including President Lukashenko," the Austrian foreign minister, Ursula Plassnik
Ursula Plassnik
Ursula Plassnik is an Austrian diplomat and politician. She was Foreign Minister of Austria between October 2004 and December 2008.-Early life and career:...
, said after the EU summit. She gave no details, but EU officials said measures being considered included visa bans on those accused of allegedly rigging the poll and possible asset freezes, but not economic sanctions against the former Soviet republic.
Lukashenko will be banned from entering the 25 nations of the EU - including Belarus' neighbours, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania - and from the US. EU diplomats are drawing up a list of Belarusian officials who will be targeted by "smart sanctions" and final decisions will be taken on 10 April.
Russia
Russia considered the election results acceptable; the Russian Foreign Ministry declared the election fair, and Russian president Vladimir PutinVladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
called Lukashenko to congratulate him on his victory.
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned alleged OSCE bias, saying "The biased verdict of the OSCE, Europe's main election monitoring organization, on the presidential election in Belarus highlights the need to improve the process of observing polls, an official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. "We believe that the biased nature of the verdict of the monitoring mission has again confirmed the importance of beginning, at last, focused work to correct shortcomings in the election monitoring practice," Mikhail Kamynin said referring to a decision made by foreign ministers of the 55-nation security grouping in December last year. On 24 March Sergey Lavrov
Sergey Lavrov
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov is the Foreign Minister of Russia. Prior to that, Lavrov was a Soviet diplomat and Russia's ambassador to the United Nations from 1994 to 2004. Lavrov speaks Russian, English, French and Sinhala....
accused OSCE of instigating tensions during the parliamentary election campaign in Belarus, claiming that "long before the elections, the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights had declared that they (the elections) would be illegitimate and it was pretty biased in its commentaries on their progress and results, thus playing an instigating role." It was one of many Russian criticisms of the trans-Atlantic group's vote monitoring activities.
Pro-government press and organizations lauded the outcome as a defeat of "orange"
Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter...
political technologies, whereas the liberal opposition traditionally condemned Lukashenko's actions. On March 26, about ten people from liberal movements and parties, joined by occasional passers-by, attempted to carry out an unsanctioned demonstration in support of the Belarusian opposition near the building of the Ministry of International Affairs, but were quickly dispersed by authorities.
Reflecting a widespread belief among journalists, Russian commentator Piotr Parhomenko wrote in lenta.ru that Lukashenko's decision to allow the opposition demonstration was a move calculated to divide the opposition, as Kozulin wanted to stop the protests while Milinkevich called for them to go on indefinitely.
Belarusian President's comment
According to a Belarusian news portal, Lukashenko himself stated that the "last Presidential elections were rigged; I already told this to the Westerners. [...] 93.5% voted for the President Lukashenko [sic]. They said it's not a European number. We made it 86. This really happened. And if [one is to] start recounting the votes, I don't know what to do with them. Before the elections they told us that if we showed the European numbers, our elections would be accepted. We were planning to make the European numbers. But, as you can see, this didn't help either."External links
- Website of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Belarus
- Coverage of the election
- Results from Belarusian State TV
- ePolitics 2006: Online Campaigning in 2006 Presidential Election in Belarus
- Guardian editorial on plausibility of un-rigged Lukashenko landslide
- Yury Khashchavatsky film "Ploshcha" (March 19, 2006) commemorated to events of post-presidential elections in 2006 /