December 26, Pozirk. BelPol, an association of former Belarusian security officers, has released an investigation into election fraud by officials in Belarus.
The “illegal retention of power by dictator Alaksandar Łukašenka” includes multiple components, such as the disqualification and imprisonment of potentially strong rivals, the creation of advantageous conditions for the incumbent, the total control of the election commissions and restrictions on observation, it said, noting that fraud is the final stage of election manipulations.
The January presidential election will be even worse the previous elections under Łukašenka, BelPol warned: “For the first time, there will be no candidates from the democratic opposition at all.”
Even if opposition hopefuls were allowed to participate, they would not be able to collect 100,000 ballot-access signatures because of voters’ fear of reprisals.
“All pseudo-opponents of A. Łukašenka in the 2025 election are individuals controlled by the regime, including former opposition politician Hanna Kanapackaja,” BelPol said. “So, in the upcoming presidential election Belarusian citizens will not even have a formal opportunity to vote for a real opponent to dictator A. Łukašenka.”
For the first time, there will be no independent observation. In 2020, a limited number of independent observers were present at and outside polling stations.
BelPol also examined the composition of the local election commissions. In 265 commissions, 63 percent of members managed the 2020 presidential and 2024 local and parliamentary elections and the 2022 constitutional referendum.
Some 23 percent were involved in two of the three campaigns, and 11 percent in one of those events as commissioners. The commissions formed for the January 21-26 presidential election have only 3 percent of new members, the group said.
“The BelPol team prepared the report based on information available in public access, verified testimonies by individuals involved in the organization and holding of elections in Belarus. BelPol members witnessed some of the described irregularities,” the association said.
