Dictatorship
A dictatorship is a type of government characterized by a single leader or a group of leaders. It gives no chance for political pluralism, independent programs or the media.
A Long History As Dictator President
For close to a quarter of a century now, Aleksandr Lukashenko has been offering some master class in dictatorship in Belarus. He runs the country with an iron hand. After the blatantly rigged election of August 9th, the next lessons should be on how dictatorships should be brought to an end.
Journalists Arrested
The Path To Absolute Rule
Mr. Lukashenko was a son of a milkmaid. He was a soviet state farm chairman when the Soviet Union collapsed and got into power in Belarus as the first democratic president. Lukashenko made sure that that was the last free and fair election in Belarus. He even reshaped the old soviet K.G.B security apparatus and made them become a personal machine that he uses to crush any opposition. He has brought the media, parliament, and the judiciary under his firm control which has earned the dubious title of, “Europe’s last Dictator.”
Black Shirts Arrest Official Observers
Lukashenko’s Direct Ties To The Soviet Union
He received a significant boost from Russia in his governance, in the form of discounted prices when buying gas and oil. This helped him avoid any instances of chaotic cases and large-scale privatizations that afflicted Russia and most other former Soviet republics. Keeping the major industries within their patronage and jobs in government hands.
Nonsense Cures and Treatments For CoronaVirus
Before the most recent elections, things were not so good for Mr. Lukashenko after making some ridiculous claims regarding the corona pandemic. He had urged his subjects to ride tractors, take saunas, and use vodka, which alienated many people as the coronavirus spread widely, and the country’s economy shrunk.
A Starkly Obvious Illegitimate Election
The dictator president has stuck to his familiar script and has claimed to have an improbable landslide victory. Ceding votes that added to less than a tenth to his competitor, Ms. Tikhanovskaya. It is believed that without any oversight of authorities during the election period, it is impossible to tell the actual number of votes the competitor got. In some polling stations where the results of the votes leaked, it is believed that Ms. Tikhanovskaya had gathered more than 70% of the total votes; hence backing what most people tend to believe that he had not even won in the entire election.
Huge Protests in Minsk and Across Belarus
This resulted in the eruption of demonstrations in the capital city of Minsk and other cities and towns. Mr. Lukashenko sent his black-shirted thugs to deal with the demonstrators where they responded with extraordinary viciousness. The demonstrators were beaten with boots and batons, others were detained, and some were packed in small cells where they were beaten then released.
An Exhausted Opposition is Jailed and Flees
Ms. Tikhanovskaya decided to go and file a formal complaint about the results of the election. On her way, she was arrested by policemen, and after three hours, she was released and made a public coerced statement that the election was fair, and people should stop protesting. Soon after the announcement that she was contented with the elections’ results, she fled to the neighboring country Lithuania.
Further Reading
CNN Article on the Opposition Leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya Fleeing after arrest.
BBC Article On How Tikhanovskaya Fled to Lithuania
