My opponents choose prison and exile, Lukashenko tells BBC

I have reported on many elections.

I have seen Prime Ministers and Presidents roll up to polling stations, cast ballots and then take a few questions from reporters.

But I never saw anything like the scene at polling station 478 in Minsk.

The longtime leader of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, once dubbed “Europe’s last dictator”, arrived to cast his vote. Then, while Belarusians were still voting, candidate Lukashenko gave a four-and-a-half-hour press conference live on state TV.

It was an opportunity to quiz her on the controversial vote which her critics have condemned as “a sham”.

“What question have you prepared for me?” he asked. “Like you always do.”

“Good morning,” I replied.

“Good morning, Steve.”

“How can you call this a democratic election when your main rivals are either in jail or in exile?” I asked

“Some are in jail, and some are in exile. But here you are!” Lucashenko said.

“Everyone has the right to choose. This is democracy. Some chose jail, others chose deportation. We have never deported anyone.”

In fact, it was the authorities’ brutal crackdown on protesters after the 2020 presidential election that led to staunch opponents of Alexander Lukashenko being either jailed or driven into political exile. Personal preference did not come into play.

“You recently said that ‘we should not silence people’ (silence people),” I reminded her.

“But your rivals are not just kept from voting. Some of them have been jailed. There are currently over 1,200 political prisoners in Belarus. Isn’t it time to open the prison cells and release them , Sergei Tikhanovsky … “

“You go on about Maria for me. My God,” said Lukashenko.

“Okay, I’ll answer your question… prison is for people who have opened their mouths too wide and who have broken the law. Don’t you have prisons in Britain and America?”

“In any country, if you break the law, you must bear the consequences,” he continued. “The law is strict, but it’s the law. I didn’t invent it. You need to follow it.”

“You need to follow the law,” I interjected. “But these people are in jail for criticizing you.”

“Ignorance of the law does not absolve you of responsibility before it.”

Although prominent opposition figures were not allowed to run, Alexander Lukashenko’s name was not the only one on the ballot. There were four other candidates. But they came off more like spoilers than serious challengers.

“We talked to some other candidates,” I told Lukashenko. “One of them, the leader of the Communist Party, openly supports you. The other is full of praise for you. It’s a strange election, isn’t it, with such opponents…”

“Steve, this is a new experience for you!” he responded, to laughter and applause from the local journalists in the room.

“It’s true,” I said. “I haven’t seen an election like this before.”

“The communists’ policy based on justice is the same policy that we are promoting,” Lukashenko argued. “So why would they vote against me?”

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kalas has characterized this presidential election in Belarus as a “provocation to democracy”.

Not that Alexander Lukashenko cares.

“I swear to you,” he told me, “I couldn’t care less whether you recognize our election or whether you don’t. The most important thing for me is that the people of Belarus recognize it.”