Lukashenko gains 80.23% of vote - Belarusian CEC
MINSK. Aug 10 (Interfax) - Incumbent Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko gained 80.23% of the vote, while Svetlana Tikhanovskaya gained 9.9%, Belarusian Central Elections Commission (CEC) Chairperson Lidia Yermoshina said at a press briefing on Monday, citing preliminary data.
According to her information, Andrei Dmitriyev gained 1.04% of the vote, Anna Kanopatskaya gained 1.68%, and Sergei Cherechen gained 1.12%. Some 6.02% voted against all candidates.
The final information will be summed up before the end of the week.
Belarusian CEC Chairperson Lidiya Yermoshina has called on the presidential candidates who have lost the election to calmly take their defeat, congratulate the winner and not "stir" the public.
"The main thing is to be able to accept defeat. That is, to reconcile with it, accept it, congratulate. Not stir the public that supported him and that can and is ready to go to the square if he stirs it," Yermoshina said in the evening of Sunday, responding to a question as to what she would like to wish the losing candidates.
Some citizens were unable to cast their votes in the Belarusian presidential election at the polling station in Moscow due to the embassy's status of a restricted area and the sanitary and epidemiological requirements, the Belarusian embassy to Russia said.
"As the embassy had expected, Belarusian citizens exhibited unprecedented interest to the presidential election campaign. The voter turnout was way higher than in the previous elections. The embassy expresses sincere gratitude to all citizens for demonstrating an active civil position and the wish to exercise their constitutional right. At the same time, not all of the citizens were able to vote within the timeframe assigned by Belarusian legislation. There were lines at polling stations in the Russian Federation till the time they closed," the embassy said in a statement on its website.
The embassy noted that it had invited everyone to take part in the early ballot and had expressed concern with the fact that the number of voters might exceed the capacity of polling stations.
"On the whole, according to the embassy data, slightly more than 1,000 persons took part in the early voting in Moscow, while as of 8 p.m. on August 9 the number of persons who cast their votes was preliminarily estimated at about 4,000 in Moscow (there were 644 citizens on the main list), about 800 in St. Petersburg (201), and about 500 in Kaliningrad (87)," the embassy said.
The embassy said it "had done its best to enable Belarusian citizens to exercise their voting rights," in particular, had broadened the capacity of polling stations and the number of voting booths.
"About 300 persons cast their votes at the polling station per hour, on the average, which is the maximum number the embassy could provide given its status of a restricted area, the size of its premises, the number of its personnel, and the sanitary and epidemiological requirements," the embassy said.
In addition, the embassy said it had received a note from the Russian Foreign Ministry, which requested that the compliance of Belarusian citizens with Russian legislation stipulating a ban on mass events be provided.
Citizens who had no chance to vote at the Belarusian embassy in Moscow, as well as in St. Petersburg went on spontaneous protests. These actions are over by now.
Protests
Unsanctioned demonstrations started in Belarus on Sunday night after the first preliminary results of the election were announced.
Thirty-nine law enforcement officers and more than 50 civilians were hurt as a result of the protests, the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA said on Monday, citing information from the Interior Ministry.
"The unsanctioned demonstrations of August 9 hurt 39 law enforcement officers and more than 50 civilians," the ministry said.
According to Belarusian human rights activists, one person died and dozens were hurt.
"One participant in the protest that took place in Minsk yesterday evening and overnight from August 9 to 10 is dead," a statement published on the website of the Viasna unregistered human rights center said.
According to the human rights activists, the young man sustained a lethal brain injury after he was hit by a special vehicle on Pobediteley Avenue. Paramedics, who rushed to the scene, were unable to save him.
"Dozens of people hurt during the demonstrations are staying in Minsk hospitals," Viasna said. "It is known that two departments of a military hospital are full of injured patients. Besides, the injured are staying at the Emergency Hospital and Minsk Hospital No. 6," it said.
The Belarusian Investigative Committee has opened criminal cases over mass unrest and violence against police officers, Investigative Committee head Ivan Noskevich said on Monday.
"The Investigative Committee has opened criminal cases over facts of mass unrest and violence against officers of law enforcement agencies. They occurred overnight in the territory of the city of Minsk and a number of other regions of the country," the Internet portal tut.by quoted Noskevich as saying.
"All illegal actions were accompanied by violence against police officers dozens of whom were hurt," he said.
According to the Investigative Committee, "the violations were accompanied by the destruction of property and the resistance to officials." Law enforcers reported the use of garbage bins, benches, sticks, rocks, pieces of paving slabs, glass bottles, and incendiary liquid as weapons. "More than 100 investigators are at work on incident scenes," Noskevich said.
The criminal cases were opened on counts of organizing and participating in mass unrest. "Such actions are punishable with up to 8 and 15 years in prison, respectively," the Investigative Committee said.
"The police is in control of the situation despite the fact that unsanctioned mass events are continuing in regional centers and the city of Minsk," the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA quoted Interior Ministry spokesperson Olga Chemodanova as saying.
Chemodanova confirmed continuing detentions at unsanctioned demonstrations.
Some 3,000 people have been detained in Belarus for participating in unauthorized rallies on August 9, the press service for the Belarusian Interior Ministry said on Monday.
"Groups of citizens were observed in the areas of polling stations and on central squares in 33 populated areas of the country in the late hours of August 9, 2020, and in the early hours of August 10, 2020. All in all, some 3,000 people were detained nationwide for participating in unauthorized rallies. Of these people, some 1,000 [were detained] in Minsk and more than 2,000 in other regions of the republic," the press service said.
According to the Interior Ministry, protesters "lit flares, threw studs and nails onto the road, made barricades out of mobile barriers, and took apart paving slabs and threw them and other objects at law enforcement officers" in Minsk in the area of the city sign "Minsk - Hero City" around 10:00 p.m. on Sunday.
The ministry also said law enforcement officers saw active resistance in Pinsk, "where a group of aggressive citizens tried to organize an attack on police officers, using sharpened wooden stakes, rods, stones, and fixtures."
"Some citizens taken to the country's medical establishments were under the influence of alcohol," the press service said.
Meanwhile, a number of Belarusian media outlets reported ongoing clashes between the protesters and the police in Minsk. According to some reports, protesters are also clashing with the police and detentions are taking place in other Belarusian cities.
The mass protests that occurred in Belarus on August 9 were controlled from Poland, the United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said.
"We recorded, and you know that as a former intelligence officer, phone calls coming in from abroad. The calls were made from Poland, the United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic in order to control, pardon me, our sheep: they don't understand what they're doing, so they're being controlled," the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA quoted Lukashenko as saying at a meeting with the head of the Commonwealth of Independent States election observation mission, Sergei Lebedev, on Monday.
"We'll give a proper response. We won't allow the country to be torn apart," BelTa quoted Lukashenko as saying.
Taxi services and Internet disruptions
Taxi services were unavailable in Minsk on Sunday evening, the main day of the presidential election, eyewitnesses told Interfax.
They said a person who tried to order a taxi had a situation when the phones of at least five companies were constantly busy. Besides, no taxis were to be seen in the streets of the city.
Many users in Minsk had no Internet, residents of the city told the agency. Interfax journalists were also having serious problems in their work due to problems with the Internet.
An Interfax correspondent who drove in the center of the city said the central part of Minsk was closed to traffic and the passenger transport flow decreased considerably.
According to taxi drivers, police vehicles, tractors, heavy construction equipment, and cranes were put near large parks in Minsk.
The work of online taxi services was also complicated by the absence of the Internet.
Users of social networks reported problems with the work of messengers, in particular, Telegram, and problems with access to YouTube since Sunday morning. They said some websites wouldn't open, including the independent monitoring site Zubr.in. There were also problems with the work of popular VPN services. Users said people who use stationary and mobile Internet were having problems.
Some retail outlets put announcements saying their terminals couldn't work due to technical problems.
Belarus's largest Internet operator Beltelecom said there was "a problem with external channels, high load." It couldn't say over what period of time the problems would be resolved and apologized for the inconvenience.
Reports about problems with the Internet were coming from different regions of the country.
Many Internet users couldn't visit the websites of state establishments, ministries, and agencies, of the state agency BelTA, and also the website of the Belarusian president.
International reaction
Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky has said the unsanctioned protests in Minsk that happened on the day of the Belarusian presidential election reminded him of the 2014 events on Kyiv's Maidan (Independence Square).
"Déjà vu in Minsk. It's clear there are those who don't agree with Lukashenko reelection, but they are still loud minority which tries to impose its will on silent majority.And Western "geoengineers" shamelessly exploit this as they did in Maidan in Ukraine ruining the country," Polyansky said on Twitter.
There is no reason to doubt preliminary results of the Belarusian presidential election presented by the Central Elections Commission, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Vladimir Dzhabarov said.
"We have no reason to doubt the presented preliminary results of the Belarusian election," Dzhabarov told Interfax on Monday.
"No flagrant violations or ballot stuffing were observed; if there are such facts, they should be made known, but that has not been done so far," he said.
The steps taken by the Belarusian opposition, which has staged protests in Belarus, are unconstructive, and in the wake of his victory in the presidential election, Alexander Lukashenko will receive a mandate for a tough crackdown on such actions, Dzhabarov said.
"I think that the opposition will try to demonstrate unconstructive conduct, although this is a path to nowhere. In this case, if Lukashenko is elected, he will have all powers to strongly respond to such public order offences," he said said. "These overnight protests look like planned actions."
He also warned Russians against joining such unauthorized rallies in Belarus.
"As a matter of fact, Russians have nothing to do in Belarus. If they are [election] observers, they are working there. But if just onlookers who want to stir up the situation have come there, they shouldn't do this because this is a foreign country, a sovereign one. That's why tough measures need to be taken against them," he said.
"Lukashenko is a fighter and will take the situation under his control," Dzhabarov said.
The Belarusian opposition attempted to repeat the "Ukrainian maidan", he said.
"These protests were prepared in advance, as it was expected that Lukashenko would most likely win, and they tried to stage a 'maidan'-style protest, repeat what happened in Ukraine in 2004, when the third round of elections was held for the first time in the history of world parliamentarianism," Dzhabarov said.
"Belarus has no monolithic society, either. In this country, there are representatives of our non-systemic opposition and blatantly pro-opposition media outlets, which were interested in rocking this boat," he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the Belarusian people to demonstrate tolerance, renounce street violence, and be ready for a broad dialogue to find a way out of the critical situation that erupted after the preliminary results of the Belarusian presidential election were announced.
"Our neighbors, the Belarusians, are going through a difficult time now. They are trying to determine a vector of their further development. This is not an easy thing to do. It is already obvious that far from all citizens in the country agree with the announced preliminary results of the elections. And, as it is known, any legitimacy stems exclusively from public trust, from trust alone, whereas doubts on such a scale is a direct path to violence, to a conflict, to public protest, which is growing. Unfortunately, this is what we are observing now," Zelensky wrote on Facebook on Monday morning.
He called on the Belarusians to be as tolerant and patient as possible and to renounce street violence.
"We are calling for a dialogue as open as possible, albeit hard, because only a broad dialogue will offer citizens of the Republic of Belarus a way out of this difficult critical situation and will allow them to honestly discuss further steps and formats of social interaction," he said.
Only mutual understanding between all sides is able to safeguard the country's independence and ensure its further movement toward freedom and democracy, Zelensky said.
"Otherwise, violence will continue to escalate further, which, in turn, is fraught with very dire consequences. And, in my opinion, both sides - the government and society, which is protesting - should be interested in such a dialogue today," the president said.
In its steps, Belarus ought to abide as much as possible by democratic standards generally recognized in the civilized world and try to ensure its own people's rights and freedoms in full, Zelensky said, adding that he sees this as the only way to maintain hope to emerge from the crisis.
"Ukraine and I personally are enormously interested in Belarus remaining a truly independent and democratic country with a strong economy and stable social relations. Belarus is our closest neighbor, which is why we are absolutely not indifferent to what is happening there and what will happen to our friends further," he said.
The CIS election observation mission believes that the Belarusian presidential election complied with the Belarusian Constitution and was an open and competitive.
"The mission did not uncover any facts that could call into question the election legitimacy. The election was held in compliance with the Constitution and the Election Code," CIS election observation mission head Sergei Lebedev said.
"It was an open and competitive election, which ensured the expression of voters' will," Lebedev said.
The mission recorded individual violations "but they were not systemic and had no effect on the election outcome," he said.
The voting process and the election itself were well organized despite the heated nature of the campaign, Lebedev said.
President of the European Council Charles Michel has condemned the use of force by Belarusian authorities against protesters.
"Violence against protesters is not the answer," Michel wrote on Twitter on Monday.
"Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, basic human rights must be upheld," Michel said when reacting to the events that followed the presidential election in Belarus.