'It's outrageous': Belarus election result sparks night of defiance and violence
Source: The Guardian
Speaking to protesters, there was a sense that young Belarusians had lost their fear of the government as the mood turned darker over an election they believe was stolen from the challenger Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
Were tired of this rudeness, this nastiness, said a protester in Minsk who was wearing a dark T-shirt and a mask and declined to give his name. Were tired of these numbers, which are a spit in the face.
Everyone has come out because we have been cheated, said another man, a plumber. When they gave her [Tikhanovskaya] just 6%, and she had actually won 70%, it was outrageous.
Flashes of stun grenades echoed off the tower blocks near the Stela second world war memorial in Minsk, where thousands gathered holding up phone torches like a rock concert. The mood differed from the euphoria of the pro-Tikhanovskaya rallies that had been some of the countrys largest since the Soviet Union, where 63,000 gathered in a Minsk square and sang Soviet-era protest anthems.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/10/its-outrageous-belarus-election-result-sparks-night-of-defiance-and-violence
This looks like another stolen election, by brute force. Polls before the election showed Svetlana Tikhanovskaya with upwards of 80% of the vote, and when the announcement came out, Lukashenko wins by 80%! You know Putin is all over this one, this being one of the old Soviet republics. This better not be any fucking dress rehearsal for our election in November. You think we've seen riots so far this year?
What is also a little scary here is the number of media stories that do not even mention that Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was up big before the election. And there is a definite slant towards Lukashenko.
We have to help Belarus, but, fuck, with this clown in the White House?
PSPS
(13,614 posts)RussBLib
(9,035 posts)Even that might not surprise me, but it would outrage me
maxsolomon
(33,400 posts)America and the rest of the world are pretty powerless to stop Lukashenko - we haven't been able to in the last 25 years, and President Clown wouldn't have the 1st clue as to how to help.
Just like the Kims in NK, he stays until the military turns on him. Or he dies. Or his children take over. Or a revolution overthrows him.
LiberalLovinLug
(14,176 posts)Belarus, or Hong Kong.
Countries citizens that need America's support to reverse anti-democratic brutality are on their own. Issues that don't financially benefit Trump personally, or Putin disapproves, are off limits
DENVERPOPS
(8,844 posts)in the U.S. of A. ???????????????????
In doubt? Just look at the things taking place across our nation and we are three months away !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
bucolic_frolic
(43,281 posts)grand larceny
regnaD kciN
(26,045 posts)...and there was speculation that the Kremlin was backing Tikhanovskaya this time around.
Was there a rigged election? No doubt. But I'm equally skeptical of "polls" showing either candidate with anywhere near a 4-to-1 lead. That simply doesn't happen in modern-day elections, where a 2-to-1 margin is considered an almost-unimaginable blowout. If the population was against Lukashenko by that huge a margin, he'd have been ousted either by the mob or by an underling by now. And, if there's one thing we've learned from Russia, it's that even a strongman/tyrant is going to be popular among a significant portion of the populace.