Media: Kremlin Left Lukashenka Alone With Angry People

The dictator was left without any support.

Official Minsk claims that negotiations between Lukashenka and Putin in Rzhev did take place. But the lack of information gives experts reason to believe that Russia left Lukashenka without support in the current election. “Lukashenka is left alone with the people. Potential candidates and activists do not intend to be puppets in the process according to the scenario of the authorities,” writes the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta on this occasion.

Observers estimate that in the published video, Putin and Lukashenka walked alongside and talked for exactly 10 seconds. Moreover, on the eve of his visit to Russia, Lukashenka announced a number of issues that he intended to discuss with his Russian counterpart.

A politically active community in the social networks is mocking: in 10 seconds, Vladimir Putin could only ask Lukashenka if he is ready to sign the 31st integration road map. Judging by the short-term nature of the meeting, the answer could be no, local observers believe and state: Lukashenka runs the risk of being left alone with the angry people in this election. In conditions of unprecedented falsifications, he cannot count on the Western support either.

Potential presidential candidates, as well as their supporters, continue to resist the authorities. In particular, the former head of the High-Tech Park (HTP) Valer Tsapkala said at a July 1 press conference that he intends to appeal the decisions of the territorial election commissions that rejected the signatures submitted by his initiative group. “According to the law, they must provide us with documents that reject these signatures, so that we can conduct a survey of those whose signatures are rejected,” said the former head of the HTP. According to him, all signatures passed three levels of verification. “From the point of view of the signature verification procedure itself, it seems to me that we had it the most serious and the most stringent way,” he said.

As reported, on June 30, the CEC of Belarus announced the “verification results” of the authenticity of signatures in support of potential presidential candidates. According to the office, Valer Tsapkala is the only one of the seven candidates who collected less than the required amount - 75,249 with the threshold of 100 thousand. The initiative group claims that it collected more than 212 thousand signatures, and submitted 160 thousand to the election commissions.

However, this is not the only thing that is surprising at the headquarters of candidates and in the expert community. The commissions “rejected” 200 thousand signatures of Lukashenka’s main rival, ex-head of Belgazprombank Viktar Babaryka. The CEC recognized only half of the 365 thousand passed as valid. But, among some other potential presidential candidates, the CEC counted more than they themselves did. So, ex-deputy Hanna Kanapatskaya reported that she had submitted 110 thousand, Chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada) Siarhei Cherachan - 106 thousand, and in fact it turned out almost 37 thousand more signatures for each.

The headquarters of Cherachan confirmed the fact of fraud during the verification of signatures. They assured that it was 106 thousand signatures that were handed over, not 143 thousand. “This question is not for us,” party spokesman Aleh Chumakou told reporters about the unexpected increase in the number of signatures. Now the politically active public calls on Siarhei Cherachan to apply to the competent authorities with a request to acknowledge the fact of fraud.

The headquarters of Viktar Babaryka, despite the sufficiency of signatures for registration as a presidential candidate, intends to seek justice. Its representative, Maryna Kalesnikava, made an official appeal in which she called on citizens who had signed for Viktar Babaryka to inquire about the fate of their signatures in the relevant territorial commissions. Activists immediately responded.

In terms of the intensity of the struggle, this will be the most unusual presidential campaign in Belarus, experts say.