Belarus will hold its next presidential election on Jan. 26, 2025, the country’s Central Electoral Commission announced Wednesday.
Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian dictator who has run the country since 1994 and is a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, previously said he will run again — and he is not expected to lose.
Belarusians this year voted in parliamentary elections in which all four parties on the ballot backed Lukashenko’s regime, after the ruler dissolved all the other parties following fraudulent presidential elections in 2020, which were condemned across Europe and the West.
The 2020 vote ignited mass protests that almost led to Lukashenko’s fall — but for a brutal campaign to suppress protesters and opponents which was backed by Putin.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya — who opposed Lukashenko in the 2020 election after her husband, a leading opposition candidate, was arrested and jailed during the campaign then imprisoned for 18 years by authorities in Minsk — is the main face of the pro-democratic opposition living in exile.
“Lukashenka has announced the date of his ‘reelection’ — January 26. It’s a sham with no real electoral process, conducted in an atmosphere of terror. No alternative candidates or observers will be allowed. We call on Belarusians and the international community to reject this farce,” Tsikhanouskaya said.
In January, Lukashenko signed a law guaranteeing himself immunity, lifelong protection and state-provided property upon his resignation from the presidential office.