Belarus’s opposition leader on her plan to take down Lukashenko

On this day in 2020, Belarus held presidential elections. Standing against the dictatorial incumbent of 26 years Alexandr Lukashenko was Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. An unlikely candidate, English teacher Tsikhanouskaya decided to stand for election in place of her vlogger husband Siarhei, who was arrested and subsequently jailed for 18 years after the authorities refused to register his own candidacy for the contest.

Dismissed as a threat by Lukashenka on account of being a ‘housewife’, Tsikhanouskaya was permitted to run. Hugely underestimated, her rallies attracted tens of thousands of supporters, making them the largest in Belarus’s post-Soviet history. Despite unofficial polling indicating Tsikhanouskaya had won with as much as 60 per cent of the vote, Lukashenko proclaimed himself president for a sixth term. Protests that would go on to last over six months began that same day, Lukashenko launched a brutal crackdown with Vladimir Putin’s support and Tsikhanouskaya briefly went into hiding.