It’s been two years since the people of Belarus went to the polls. The entrenchment of the Lukashenka regime had made elections a dangerous time for civil society and anyone brave enough to stand as an opposition candidate. But despite state repression, a militarised and unaccountable security force, and a skewed electoral landscape, Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s grip on power looked weak in August 2020.
Until it didn’t.
Officially, Lukashenka won a landslide victory, securing 80.23% of the vote. In a state that had been hollowed out, official vote tallies mean both very little and everything at the same time. In the two years that have followed, a protest movement contesting the outcome of the election has been brutally suppressed, senior opposition leaders imprisoned or forced to flee and at least 1,261 political prisoners detained (as of 9 August 2022). The regime and its security forces continue to behave with impunity. Lukashenka has also backed the invasion of Ukraine by Putin’s Russia.
