ELECTIONS IN BELARUS: WILL THE MASS PROTESTS CONTINUE?

No sooner were the polling stations closed in Belarus than the protesters and law enforcement officials began to gather in the streets of Minsk and other cities of the country. After the CEC announced the results of the election campaign, the protests and the use of special equipment by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic has begun.

What caused such a demonstrative negative reaction from the Belarusian electorate? First of all, the reason was the official results. According to the statements of the Central Election Commission, the winner of the elections was the current president, Alexander Lukashenko. At the same time, Lukashenko himself, judging by his words, hoped for a "celebration", which was spoiled by the protesters.

In his opinion, the protests are controlled from abroad - from Poland, the Czech Republic and Great Britain.

Opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya demonstrated a different view of the events. According to official data from the CEC, she won only 10.09% of the vote. At the same time, the presidential candidate stated that she would try to challenge the results announced by the CEC - Tikhanovskaya demanded that they be declared invalid. Anna Krasulina, a press secretary of her headquarters, expressed herself even more vividly, having declared that the official results were breaking with reality and contradicting common sense.

It is curious that at the foreign polling stations, according to the exit poll data, up to 80% of voters preferred Tikhanovskaya. Therefore, the reaction of foreign media and European political leaders was predictable.

Since there is no confidence in the official data on voting, it can be assumed that it is the opposition that has won the elections.

This opinion is voiced by numerous European media, calling the current president of the country the last European dictator.

Photos from the scene of the events that leaked into the Internet suggest that the most violent clashes between the protesters and the Interior Ministry forces, that arrived to disperse the demonstrators, took place in the city center. By 3 o'clock in the morning, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the situation had been taken under control.

Lukashenko himself did not come out to people, and the websites of many state bodies and mass media of the republic were blocked. Mobile Internet in Minsk also works intermittently. According to the official figures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, more than 3,000 people were detained.