Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko 'ready to hand over power after new elections'

Kit Heren17 August 2020

Belarus' president has said he is ready to hold new elections and hand over power after a constitutional referendum, after days of mass protests followed an election demonstrators say was rigged in his favour.

Alexander Lukashenko made the offer while addressing heckling workers in one of the state-run factories that usually account for much of his support, after opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said she was ready to step in.

He initially told the angry crowd: "We've held elections. Until you've killed me there won't be any new elections."

But he offered to change the constitution, although protesters said he has spoken about this before.

Belarus Protests - In pictures

1/37

"We'll put the changes to a referendum, and I'll hand over my constitutional powers. But not under pressure or because of the street," Mr Lukashenko said, in comments quoted by the country's official Belta news agency.

"Yes, I'm not a saint. You know my harsh side. I'm not eternal. But if you drag down the first president you'll drag down neighbouring countries and all the rest."

He also said people could hold parliamentary and presidential elections after the referendum if that was what they wanted.

As well as the anger of demonstrators, Mr Lukashenko could also be sanctioned by the European Union after a harsh crackdown on protests following the election, in which he officially won just over 80 per cent of the vote.

Belarus protesters 
Getty Images

And the UK has refused to accept the result of the Belarus presidential election, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, adding that Westminster would "hold the Belarusian authorities to account."

Mr Raab said: “The world has watched with horror at the violence used by the Belarusian authorities to suppress the peaceful protests that followed this fraudulent presidential election.

“The UK does not accept the results. We urgently need an independent investigation through the OSCE into the flaws that rendered the election unfair, as well as the grisly repression that followed.

“The UK will work with our international partners to sanction those responsible, and hold the Belarusian authorities to account.”

Police crack down on Belarus protesters 
AP

Meanwhile Donald Trump said the US will be closely watching the "terrible" situation in the country, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discusses the fallout from the election with EU leaders.

The US president said: "It's terrible. That's a terrible situation, Belarus. We'll be following it very closely."

Meanwhile opposition politician Ms Tsikhanouskaya urged security and law enforcement officers to switch sides.

Speaking in a video address from exile in nearby Lithuania, she said: "I am ready to take responsibility and act as a national leader during this period."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in