Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: If People Decide To Take To Streets, I Will Stand Beside Them

Taking to the street is our right, according to the Constitution.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is perhaps the most unusual and unexpected presidential candidate in Belarus. Her husband, a well-known blogger in the republic, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, wanted to become a candidate himself, but now Siarhei is in prison under trumped-up charges, and his wife submitted documents to take his place. Why people supported Tsikhanouskaya, and what she herself thinks of the prospect of becoming president - in the material of the MBH Media.

Love and politics

“Initially, I submitted those docs for the sake of love, and then the struggle for the people of Belarus began,” says Tsikhanouskaya.

Sviatlana is 37 years old, she is a translator from Mikashevichy - a small town in the Brest region. In the recent years, she has been a housewife. A short brunette with a tired face, but glowing eyes, she gives me mixed feelings. With such a woman, we could run into on the street and mutually apologize, smiling. And now she is a candidate for the presidency of an entire state.

Tsikhanouskaya has no political program. She calls for one thing - a fair election. The election, before which political prisoners will be released and given the right to become candidates. And all people will be given the right to vote without falsification.

Sviatlana does not consider herself a politician. She believes that fate just decided so.

“A politician is a person who communicates on political topics with other politicians and strives for power. And I don't need power as such. If we define a politician as a person who wants to make their country better, then I probably fit this concept. But I don't feel like a politician,” Tsikhanouskaya tells me.

Although Tsikhanouskaya admits that she is not interested in working in politics, she sees positive aspects in the whole thing.

“I like the fact that I met a lot of people, cool, smart, who formed my headquarters. I like that people felt like people, they felt that they are a nation, they found the strength to overcome those fears that have been ripening for over 20 years. And I like that I became a part of this, became a symbol of some kind of change”.

The People

As part of the election campaign, Sviatlana travels around the cities of Belarus, gathering coordinated rallies. And, even in the smallest towns, hundreds, if not thousands, of people come to support her.

For example, in Brest, with a population of 300 thousand people, 20 thousand were at the rally in support of Sviatlana. She herself was late for the rally - first, her car had a punctured tyre, then she was stopped by traffic police officers twice, allegedly to check the condition of the car. She arrived with Veranika Tsapkala, the wife of the withdrawn candidate Valer Tsapkala, and Maryja Kalesnikava, head of the headquarters of Viktar Babaryka, against whom a criminal case was opened. The ladies decided to work together and create a joint headquarters.

When they took the stage in Brest, all 20 thousand people applauded them. The rally took place practically in the forest, so many could not even see the stage, but they still applauded. Sviatlana was given flowers, she smiled and shook hands with people. Veranika and Maryja held small children in their arms.

“When I go to a picket, and people are very warmly chanting “Sveta! Sveta!”, I felt that ... You know, people have been wanting to get to this place for years, they are engaged in some kind of politics. And I ended up in this place by the will of fate. I don’t think I did a lot to get people to perceive me that way. But people probably have a different opinion on this matter. Maybe this is underestimating myself,” says Sviatlana.

“I think that people see in me the same person as they are themselves,” says Tsikhanouskaya. “They do not see a politician who is striving for power. They see a person who has taken responsibility. I am ordinary, I am simple, I do not want the power to rule the country. I do not know how to rule over people, I am too soft for that. Even now, my team sometimes has to protect me in some ways. The main thing for me is that there is peace in all senses, but this does not happen. Therefore, it would be difficult for me to make any decisions, because I want everything to be just fine.”

Tsikhanouskaya's opinion about her role in the country's modern politics is confirmed by the people who come to her rallies. Belarusians really saw a symbol of change in Sviatlana.

“Now it is impossible to hide the truth, and we have a hope that everything will work out,” Ala, a participant in the rally in support of Tsikhanouskaya in Brest, tells me. “And Tsikhanouskaya offers changes. She is like a breath of air in this system of ours. We want justice, we want our children not to leave the country.”

Ala said that she herself lives on a “beggarly pension”, and her children have left Belarus.

“Lukashenka is stuck in some kind of Soviet youth. I am a Soviet child too, but I look at young people - there are no decent salaries, there is nowhere for people to work, that “parasitic” stuff (the decree on social parasitism, signed by Lukashenka - MBH Media), these tortures, this is totally outrageous!” Ala thinks.

“Change will not come overnight. It will be a long and difficult journey. The most important thing that should happen in people's self-consciousness is that there will be no dictatorship, that no one will shut their mouths, everyone will be free to express themselves,” Sviatlana explains to me.

So, what is next?

Many who came to the rally in Brest say that fair election cannot be expected. “We would very much like, we very much hope, but you yourself know ...” this is what Belarusians who gathered to support Sviatlana say. However, if necessary, they are ready to take to the street again. Tsikhanouskaya herself is ready.

“We are for the legal protection of our votes. Each person is their own leader. Tsikhanouskaya is not a leader. Taking to the street is legal, this is our right, according to the Constitution. But if all our ways in which we will prove that the elections were rigged do not work, and once again they spit in our face with “your votes mean nothing”, then people will understand that there is no other choice but to go on strike and take to the streets. If people decide to protest, I will be with them. I will not be ahead, but I will be among them. But I will not lead. And I will not call for this. If people decide that it should be so, then, of course, I will be among them.”