The president of Belarus has announced there won’t be any new elections “until you kill me” – as angry protesters chanted “go away”.
Alexander Lukashenko was speaking at a tractor factory as huge protests against his controversial landslide victory earlier this month enter a ninth day.
He’s been in power for 26 years. Lukashenko is a barmy regressive and is opposed to any sort of moderate ideals. He actually voted against the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
He has made antisemitic remarks and remarks of a homophobic nature and relied solely upon a solid relationship with Russia with which to maintain his authoritarian regime.
However that relationship has ebbed away gradually and this year Lukashenko maintained that Vladimir Putin had attempted to make Belarus a part of Russia.
The opposition presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya claimed she had won the presidential election with between 60 and 70% of the vote and formed a Coordination council to facilitate the peaceful and orderly transfer of power in Belarus.
On Saturday, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius referred to Lukashenko as the “former president” of Belarus.
Also on Saturday and it was reported that President Lukashenko’s authorities asked Kremlin representatives about the possibility of Lukashenko escaping to Russia.
