In recent days there has been massive protests in Belarus, after officials claimed that President Alexander Lukashenko had won a sixth term in the recently concluded polls. Monday marked the ninth straight day of protesting against the results of an election that extended his 26-year rule.
Earlier this month, leading Opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya had left the country after the polls that Lukashenko has apparently cleared with ease. The official results of the August 9 vote gave Lukashenko 80% of the votes and Tsikhanouskaya only 10%, but the opposition claimed the vote was rigged.
Tsikhanouskaya, a 37-year-old former English teacher, had entered the race after her husband was imprisoned. Galvanising nationwide support, she had managed to draw tens of thousands to her campaign rallies.
What does the President have to say?
Since then, thousands of people, it would seem are unwilling to accept the poll results. The President however remains defiant. On Sunday, addressing a massive rally with tens of thousands of supporters and stating that there was no possibility of the polls being rerun.
"If we follow their lead (and rerun the election), we will perish as a state," Lukashenko declared, a day after saying he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed that Russia would send unspecified security assistance to the former Soviet republic if Lukashenko asked for it.
He also claimed that Western powers were gathering military units in countries along Belarus' western borders.
As he was quoted saying by TASS news agency, "You speak about unfair elections and want fair ones? I have an answer for you. We had the elections. Unless you kill me, there will be no other elections."
The protests and their aftermath
The protests are also being handled with a ruthlessness that has drawn international criticism. Thousands have been arrested and the police have countered the protests using clubs, rubber bullets and flash grenades. When many detainees were later released, they showed extensive bruises they said were due to police beatings. Reportedly, some protesters had carried pictures of loved ones they said had been beaten so badly that they could not attend.
The international reaction
While the NATO has dismissed the president's claim, tweeting that there is no NATO buildup in the region, several nations have also cricisised the situation with US' Mike Pompeo stating that the polls "weren't free or fair".
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had said last week that the 27-nation bloc will hold a thorough review of its ties with Belarus, and is mulling action against those involved in the massive police election crackdown, or against officials who might have interfered with the vote.
More recently, on Monday, European Council President Charles Michel convened an emergency summit of EU leaders to discuss the situation. This will take place on Wednesday, August 19.
What does neighbouring Lithuania have to say?
Lithuania has already given refuge to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Belarus's northern neighbor says that it is ready to welcome others fromt eh country. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius tweeted a few days ago that the country was "ready and considering the possibility of accepting Belarusians, suffering from the ongoing brutalities, on humanitarian grounds."
