WASHINGTON, December 4. /TASS/. Belarusian authorities know perfectly well how to hold free and fair elections without kowtowing to Western whims, the republic’s embassy in the US said in a statement made available to TASS.
"We know better how to conduct free and fair elections, without succumbing to senseless wants and whims of Western ‘democratizers,’" the document reads. The diplomatic mission made the statement following a report by the US Department of State about holding a "second strategic dialog" with opposition members residing outside Belarus.
As Belarusian diplomats stressed, the country’s leadership and government are "accountable to the Belarusian people only" and the presidential election "will be held on January 26, 2025 in full compliance with the Constitution of Belarus and the Electoral Code of Belarus." The embassy added that Belarus and its people "today are as united as ever and are prepared to successfully suppress and resist any encroachments aimed to chip away at the Independence and Sovereignty of the Republic of Belarus."
Last December, Washington held the first round of "strategic dialog" between the US government and the "Belarusian democratic movement" led by Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
The previous presidential election was held in Belarus on August 9, 2020. According to the Central Election Commission’s official results, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won by a landslide, garnering 80.10% of the vote. Tikhanovskaya, his closest rival in the race, came in second, with 10.12% of the ballot. However, she refused to recognize the election’s outcome and left the country as did a number of opposition activists. Following the vote, mass demonstrations protesting the election results engulfed Belarus which in the first days resulted in clashes between the protesters and police and then mass rallies, meetings and demonstrations continued in the country for several months.
In October 2022, the Belarusian Investigative Committee initiated a special in-absentia proceeding against members of the so-called Coordination Council of the Belarusian opposition, who are currently abroad together with their leader Tikhanovskaya. In March 2023, she was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison.