Parliamentary Elections in Belarus

Nowadays the state of Belarus showcases – this sounds cynical, but sadly is the truth – a perfect example of an authoritarian state of the 21st century. After the collapse of the USSR, the ruler’s seat was taken by Aleksandr Lukashenko, the first and only president of Belarus since 1994. After all, since the very beginning, he has chosen a position of quite active cooperation with the Russian Federation and its first president, Boris Eltisn, as well as his successor Vladimir Putin. One of the brightest examples of to what extent the two countries are close to each other is the signment of the Treaty on the Creation of the Union State (1999), which assumed broad cooperation but still provided the independence of both states. Since then, the mutualism between Belarus and Russia has started and continues its “legacy” until this very day.

The monopoly is held by the ruling elites of the country; the 2024 elections are just a mechanism to protect the weak image of “democracy” in the eyes of the citizens, which are, besides the other tool mentioned, literally bombarded with state-led propaganda on a chronic basis. Just some statistical information for you, dear reader. As of November’s data, the specific number of political prisoners in Belarus is equal to 1279 people (prisoners.spring96.org, n.d.). Believe it or not, such monstrosity is triggered just by the people who were trying to express their political views and sticking to a perspective that it is not adequate for the same person to rule the country for 30 years straight. This accordingly foreshadows the “artificial taste” of the parliamentary election that took place in February 2024.

Since the brutally suppressed protests and demonstrations of 2020, the Belorussian KGB has thoroughly cleansed all the active and adventurous opposition heads, planting the seed of “calmness” for the upcoming election. In Summer-Autumn 2023, Belarusian authorities performed a large "re-registration" of candidates for office, resulting in only four out of fifteen parties remaining recognized. Eleven additional groups, largely opposition parties, were formally abolished at the request of Belarus' Ministry of Justice (Alexandra Boguslavskaya, 2023).

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has not acknowledged any of the elections held, because, for a fact, they could not be fair and free under Lukashenko's rule in Belarus, since 1995 (Yuras Karmanau, 2024).

As a result, directly connected to the name of Lukashenko, governmental party “Belaya Rus” has taken 51 seats out of 110. It will be asked from you to have in mind that the other parties are also pro-governmental puppets, they exist to replicate the democratic multi-party diversity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulates Lukashenko on "the solid success of patriotic forces in Belarus," which he said contributed to "ensuring national political stability" (Yuras Karmanau, 2024). The US Department of State condemned the elections, stating that they were "held in a climate of fear, which meant no procedure for voting could be deemed democratic” (Radio Svaboda, 2024).

1. prisoners.spring96.org. (n.d.). Political prisoners in Belarus. [online] Available at: https://prisoners.spring96.org/en. [Accessed 12 Nov. 2024]

2. Aleksandra Boguslavskaya (2023). Запретить любое мнение: власти РБ строят партийную систему? [online] dw.com. Available at: https://www.dw.com/ru/zapretit-luboe-mnenie-vlasti-rb-stroat-partijnuu-sistemu/a-67576770 [Accessed 12 Nov. 2024].

3. Yuras Karmanau (2024). Belarus elections: Belarusians vote amid opposition calls for its boycott. [online] AP News. Available at: https://apnews.com/article/belarus-lukashenko-election-b32e1a653d058be987adfee47a136a3c [Accessed 12 Nov. 2024].

4. Yuras Karmanau (2024). Belarus elections: Belarusians vote amid opposition calls for its boycott. [online] AP News. Available at: https://apnews.com/article/belarus-lukashenko-election-b32e1a653d058be987adfee47a136a3c [Accessed 12 Nov. 2024].

5. Radio Svaboda (2024). ЗША асудзілі ‘фіктыўныя выбары рэжыму Лукашэнкі’. [online] Радыё Свабода. Available at: https://www.svaboda.org/a/32834639.html [Accessed 12 Nov. 2024].