The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine believes that they have no reason to call the vote, which will take place there on January 26, a presidential election in Belarus.
This was announced by Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tykhyi.
"For us, there is nothing unexpected in this action. And its results, in principle, are known in advance," he said.
And he added that Aleksandr Lukashenko will continue to remain Putinʼs ally and accomplice in his war against Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry sees no prerequisites for resuming contacts with Lukashenko, therefore "the issue of recognizing his legitimacy after the announcement of the official results is not relevant for us."
Ukraine supports the position of the European Union, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other democratic states that Belarus lacks the basic conditions to hold fair and transparent elections that would meet the standards of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
"We believe that the Belarusian people deserve the right to choose their government in truly democratic, free, competitive elections and to build their own future without Russiaʼs dictates, without its imperial encroachments, and without Moscowʼs desire to impose the role of controlled puppets on its neighbors, as is currently happening," Tykhyi concluded.
"Elections" in Belarus
The vote will take place on Sunday, January 26. The presidential candidates include Lukashenko, head of the Liberal Democratic Party Oleg Haidukevich, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Sergey Syrankov, businesswoman Anna Kanapatska, and head of the Republican Party of Labor and Justice Oleksandr Khyzhnyak. The Central Election Commission predicts a “victory” for Lukashenko. The results of the vote will be known by February 5.
Belarus refused to accept OSCE observers, which is a violation of the countryʼs obligations, and also decided not to open polling stations abroad for voting, allegedly because there would not be "appropriate security measures" there, which were created earlier.
In August 2020, preliminary presidential “elections” were held in Belarus. According to official data, self-proclaimed President Alexander Lukashenko won by a wide margin. However, data from observers and the opposition say that oppositionist Svitlana Tikhanovskaya won.
After that, Belarusians called for new elections and took to the streets in large-scale protests. The protests were brutally suppressed by security forces, with the opposition reporting at least eight deaths. Thousands of protesters and opposition figures were convicted, and independent media and human rights activists were also subjected to repression.