Opponents of newly elected President Alexander Lukashenko faced a crucial test of strength yesterday, planning a second protest against a vote the government said had handed the authoritarian incumbent a new five-year term by a massive margin.
Lukashenko, who has ruled with an iron hand since 1994, won a "commanding victory" with 82.6 percent, according to a complete preliminary ballot count, Central Election Commission chief Lidiya Yermoshina said. Main opposition candidate Alexander Milinkevich received 6 percent, she said.
Addressing a crowd of thou-sands waving flags and shouting for freedom in a central Minsk square after polls closed on Sunday, Milinkevich dismissed the vote as a farce and called for "new, honest elections" in the former Soviet republic.
PHOTO: AP
Several thousand people massed in Oktyabrskaya Square, heeding Milinkevich's calls for a peaceful protest and defying a government ban on election day rallies that had raised fears of a potentially violent confrontation.
Milinkevich and the other opposition candidate, Alexander Kozulin, called on supporters to return to the square yesterday evening -- signaling a bid to hold a sustained protest like those that brought opposition leaders to power in other ex-Soviet republics including neighboring Ukraine.
The authorities made no move to disperse protesters on Sunday, but busloads of riot police idling on a nearby street were a silent reminder of the government's threats of a decisive response.
The crowd was the biggest the opposition had mustered in years, reaching at least 10,000, according to reporters' estimates. After about three hours, a smaller group marched to nearby Victory Square, some laying carnations at a monument there before dispersing around midnight.
"Tomorrow we will show the world our might!" said Kozulin, who the elections chief said received 2.3 percent of the vote. He demanded the release of what he said were hundreds of opposition activists detained during a campaign marred by heavy-handed government harassment.
Meanwhile, the EU said yesterday that the presidential election in Belarus was marred by a "climate of intimidation."
Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said the opposition in the former Soviet republic "was systematically intimidated" in campaigning for Sunday's presidential elections in which President Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner with an overwhelming majority.
But the head of the observer mission of a grouping of former Soviet states yesterday called the disputed Belarusian presidential election open and transparent.
Rushailo, in a droning statement that lasted more than a half-hour, said the CIS mission's 467 observers concluded that, despite some technical violations, the Sunday elections took place within the requirements of Belarusian law.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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