Viktar BabarykaViktar Dzmitryevich Babaryka (Belarusian: Віктар Дзмітрыевіч Бабарыка or Viktor Dmitryevich Babariko; born 9 November 1963) is a Belarusian banker, philanthropist, public and opposition political figure who intended to become a candidate in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election. Although official polls were heavily censored by the government of incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko, who was running for re-election, independent polls established Babaryka as the early favorite for t...
Coordination Council (Belarus)The Coordination Council, originally known as the Coordination Council for ensuring the transfer of power (Belarusian: Каардынацыйная рада, romanized: Kaardynacyjnaja rada; Russian: Координационный совет, romanized: Koordinatsionnyy sovyet) is a non-governmental body created by presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to facilitate a democratic transfer of power in Belarus. The council, founded during the 2020 Belarusian protests in response to the disputed 2020 Belar...
Alexander LukashenkoAlexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (also transliterated from Belarusian as Alyaksandr Ryhoravich Lukashenka; born 30 August 1954) is a Belarusian politician who has been the first and only president of Belarus since the office's establishment in 1994, making him the current longest-tenured European president. Lukashenko was born in Kopys, and before embarking on his political career, he worked as the director of a state farm (sovkhoz) and served in both the Soviet Border Troops and the Soviet Army. In 1990, Lukas...
International reactions to the 2020 Belarusian presidential election and 2020–2021 protests2020 geopolitical eventThe following is a list of the official reactions to the 2020 Belarusian presidential election and the surrounding 2020–2021 Belarusian protests. International reactions to Lukashenko's re-election: Belarus Congratulated Lukashenko Recognised Tsikhanouskaya as winner Did not recognise results Expressed criticism over conflict escalation No reactionInternational organisationseditNot recognising election resulteditHigh Representative of the European UnionJosep Borrell and European Commissi...
Sviatlana TsikhanouskayaSviatlana Hieorhiyeuna Tsikhanouskaya (néePilipchuk; born 11 September 1982) is a Belarusian opposition leader and political activist. Since running in the 2020 presidential election against President Alexander Lukashenko, she has led dissidence to his authoritarian rule through an alternate government operating from Lithuania and Poland. Tsikhanouskaya became an opposition leader after her husband, Syarhei Tsikhanouski, sought to run in the 2020 presidential election. He was arrested, along with most other opp...
Central Election Commission of BelarusThe Central Election Commission of the Republic of Belarus (CEC) is the body responsible for conducting national elections and overseeing local elections in Belarus. The CEC of Belarus is a member of the Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials. International sanctionsOn 10 April 2006, following the 2006 presidential election in Belarus, the Chairwoman of the CEC, Lidia Yermoshina, was placed on a list of over 40 members of the Belarusian government banned from entering the European Union a...
2020–2021 Belarusian protestsThe 2020–2021 Belarusian protests were a series of mass political demonstrations and protests against the Belarusian government and President Alexander Lukashenko. The largest anti-government protests in the history of Belarus, the demonstrations began in the lead-up to and during the 2020 presidential election, in which Lukashenko sought his sixth term in office. In response to the demonstrations, a number of relatively small pro-government rallies were held. The protests intensified nationwide after the offi...
BelarusBelarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an area of 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) with a population of 9.1 million. The country has a hemiboreal climate and is administratively divided into six regions. Minsk is the capital and largest city; it is administered separately as a city with special status. For m...
United Civic PartyThe United Civic Party (UCP; Belarusian: Аб'яднаная грамадзянская партыя; АГП, romanized: Abjadnanaja hramadzianskaja partyja; AHP; Russian: Объединённая гражданская партия; ОГП, romanized: Obyedinonnaya grazhdanskaya partiya; OGP) is a banned conservative and liberal political party in Belarus. The party opposes the government of Alexander Lukashenko and has participated in the country's elections on a few occasions, but it did not have a single mem...
Electoral fraudElectoral fraud, also known as voter fraud, and sometimes referred to as election manipulation, election scam, vote rigging, or election stealing, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of rival candidates, or both. It differs from but often goes hand-in-hand with voter suppression. What exactly constitutes electoral fraud varies from country to country, though the goal is often election subversion. Elec...
European UnionThe European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. A supranational union with a total area of 4,233,255 km2 (1,634,469 sq mi) and an estimated population of just under 452 million as of 2026, its member states generated a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around €18.802 trillion in 2025, accounting for approximately one sixth of global economic output. The EU is often described as a sui generis political entity combining characteristics of ...
Government-in-exileA government-in-exile (GiE) is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovereign state or semi-sovereign state, but is unable to exercise power and resides in a country distinct from its origin. Governments-in-exile usually plan to one day return to their native country and regain formal power. A government in exile differs from a rump state in the sense that the latter controls at least part of its remaining territory. For example, during World War I, nearly all of Belgium was occupie...*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.