{"id":121496,"date":"2025-01-13T12:05:18","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T09:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/121496\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T13:35:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T13:35:32","slug":"candidates-tv-appearances-highlight-lukasenkas-dominance","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/121496\/","title":{"rendered":"Candidates\u2019 TV appearances highlight \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s dominance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka has not used his radio and TV spots, likely because he already enjoys a dominant media presence. The other candidates seized the opportunity to air their platforms in this presidential race with a highly predictable outcome.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n (freepik.com)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Broadcasts<\/strong>
On January 9, four pseudo-opponents of \u0141uka\u0161enka appeared on the Belarus 1<\/em> TV channel to present their election manifestos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siarhiej Syranko\u016d, leader of the Communist Party of Belarus, portrayed himself as a dogmatic Stalinist.
Alaksandar Chi\u017eniak, of the Republican Party of Labor and Justice, used only a third of his allotted time.
Hanna Kanapackaja, a former member of the United Civic Party, played the role of an opposition figure.
Aleh Hajdukievi\u010d, of the Liberal Democratic Party, expressed support for the regime in a provocative manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syranko\u016d called for censorship, political reprisals (\u201ccleansing the state system and society of \u2018werewolves\u2019 in responsible positions\u201d), and a crackdown on LGBT people, warning that \u201cliberalization is the path to Maidan\u201d and the \u201cdisasters\u201d that followed the 2014 uprising in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also spoke of a \u201ccrisis of the global capitalist system,\u201d promising to prohibit privatization.
However, some of his statements would not be approved by censors. For example, he lamented the \u201cmoral decay of society,\u201d even as government propaganda paints a rosy picture, showing \u0141uka\u0161enka presenting \u201cSpiritual Revival\u201d awards at a recent ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Candidates’ Promises: safe rhetoric<\/strong>
Chi\u017eniak promised to work toward lifting sanctions, but without specifying how. This goal appears to conflict with \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s policies, given that he faces sanctions for persecuting opponents, engineering a migrant crisis, his role in a plane hijacking incident and also for supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To have sanctions lifted, one would need to implement democratic reforms, release political prisoners and pull Belarus out of the military alliance with Russia\u2014steps that contradict the current regime\u2019s course.
It\u2019s clear that those behind Chi\u017eniak\u2019s campaign view him as a safe candidate for the system, having approved his cautiously oppositionist stance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanapackaja simply read out her manifesto in both Belarusian and Russian. She promised to alleviate the plight of \u201cthose held accountable for events of the previous electoral cycle,\u201d a euphemism for political prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She presents herself as a moderate opposition figure, vowing to promote the Belarusian language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hajdukievi\u010d is permitted to voice ideas that do not receive full approval from \u0141uka\u0161enka, such as introducing a mixed-member proportional representation system for parliamentary elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, his main focus is a crackdown on both internal and external opposition. On a campaign leaflet, he is pictured making a sign of contempt towards his opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanapackaja sows discord<\/strong>
Kanapackaja, despite pretending to represent the opposition, lashed out at former opposition presidential hopeful Viktar Babaryka on Facebook, calling him \u201cthe ideological progenitor of the 2020 tragedy of the Belarusian people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her goal is clearly to discredit the peaceful uprising of 2020 and its leaders, sowing division within the opposition. She employed similar tactics during her presidential campaign four and a half years ago, verbally attacking Babaryka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repercussions of 2020<\/strong>
The 2020 protests resulted in thousands of Belarusians being imprisoned, and many more opponents were driven out of the country by repression. Some may regret their participation in the protests, while others feel the timing was wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The peaceful uprising was driven by various factors, including the government\u2019s inadequate response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the brutality of security forces following the presidential election. Public outrage at police violence was certainly a major catalyst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public responses, when discontent boils over into widespread protests, cannot simply be postponed for a more \u201cappropriate\u201d time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radical programs highlight \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s political value<\/strong>
Syranko\u016d proposed the most radical measures, including taxes on wealth, mandatory charity deductions for businesses, the nationalization of healthcare and banks, and a ban on private education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such initiatives would undoubtedly face resistance from business owners and their employees. Many will wonder: while \u0141uka\u0161enka dislikes private business owners, under Syranko\u016d, the situation could spiral out of control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, his rhetoric about replacing \u201cham and prosciutto\u201d with Belarusian analogs and returning to a modest Soviet-era product selection raises concerns that he envisions a return to ration cards and long queues, something that is unlikely to excite voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syranko\u016d also promised to rebuild monuments to Stalin, which could be a dealbreaker for many. After reading his proposals for purges and expropriations, some voters may think: better \u0141uka\u0161enka than a Soviet hardliner under whom the \u0141uka\u0161enka era might seem like a blossoming of democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The phlegmatic Chi\u017eniak left the impression of a political nonentity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The extravagant Hajdukievi\u010d, with his fiery anti-Western rhetoric, raises concerns that he would only deepen Belarus\u2019 international isolation. His incendiary threats against adversaries also seem like a potential source of trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanapackaja, in her role as the opposition figure, will be used by propaganda to claim that the opposition is small, making up only a symbolic few percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also provides propaganda with an opportunity to argue that a woman is unsuitable for governing the country and cast doubt on \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja\u2019s victory in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the candidates perform their roles so that the main protagonist, \u0141uka\u0161enka, can cast himself in the most favorable light against their backdrop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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